Leptogorgia chilensis (Verrill, 1868)

Published, First, 2007, A revision of the genus Leptogorgia Milne Edwards & Haime, 1857 (Coelenterata: Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae) in the eastern Pacific, Zootaxa 1419, pp. 1-90 : 22-24

Leptogorgia chilensis (Verrill, 1868)

( Figs. 13–15)

Plexaura rosea Philippi, 1866: 118 (junior homonym)

Litigorgia (?) chilensis Verrill, 1868a: 406 .

Leptogorgia (?) chilensis Verrill, 1868b: 406 .

Leptogorgia rosea Philippi, 1892: 7 (non L. rosea Milne Edwards & Haime, 1857: 134 (= L. viminalis (Pallas, 1766) , Atlantic ocean).

Leptogorgia chilensis Kükenthal 1919: 772 ; 1924: 335; Bielschowsky 1929: 132; Harden 1979.

Material examined. CALIFORNIA: CASIZ 097770 , preserved, Isla Santa Catalina , Channel Islands, Big Fisherman`s Cove, 9 m, M. Wicksten, 1972 ; CASIZ 098028 , preserved, Isla Santa Catalina , 11 m, M. Wicksten, 1971 ; MCZ 71317, Isla Santa Cruz , Smugglers Cove, 21 m, B. Scronce, M. Conboy, D. Sprong, G.E. & McGinitie, 24 January 1963 ; UCR 1596 (fragments), dry, Los Angeles , breakwater, San Pedro, 8 m, M. Wicksten, 29 September 1973 ; USNM 50191 (3 specimens), dry, Scripps Canyon , north branch, south wall, ¼ mile north of Scripps, La Jolla, no depth given, Parker, 4 March 1954 ; USNM 5988 , dry, Isla Santa Catalina, no further data .

Description. Colonies examined reach up to 35 cm in length, and 30 cm in width; they are lank, bushy with long, slender, and flexible branches. Stems can reach 4 cm long, and up to 3 mm in diameter ( Figs. 13A, D). Branching is irregularly dichotomous, branches are mostly cylindrical, up to 2.8 mm in diameter ( Figs. 13C, D), unbranched terminal twigs could reach up to 80 mm in length, and have pointed ends. The polyps retract completely into the coenenchyme leaving oblong apertures around 0.5 mm long ( Fig. 13C). Polypmounds are flat and sparsely distributed around the branches. Several longitudinal grooves appear along the bare spaces between the polyps ( Fig. 13C). Colour of the colonies is light orange, darker when preserved ( Figs. 13A, C, D). Sclerites of the coenenchyme are pale orange ( Fig. 13B). The largest are spindles reaching up to 0.12 mm in length and 0.03 mm in width, with 4–8 whorls of tubercles ( Fig. 13B, 14). In the specimens where the capstans are more abundant than the spindles, the spindles do not reach more than 0.09 mm. Capstans reach up to 0.08 mm in length, and 0.04 mm in width ( Fig. 13B, 14). Some crosses up to 0.06 by 0.06 mm are found in the samples ( Fig. 14). Anthocodial sclerites are pale orange, biscuit-like, small rods, up to 0.04 mm in length, and 0.01 mm in width.

One of the illustrated specimens is a fragment 22 cm in length and 7 cm in width that was found at the MCZ ( Fig. 13A, C), the other is a large colony deposited in the USNM ( Fig. 13D).

Distribution. Algarrobo, south of Valparaiso (Philippi 1892), Chile; Channel Islands, Los Angeles, San Francisco, California ( Table 2, Fig. 15).

Remarks. Philippi (1866) poorly described Plexaura rosea with a specimen from Valparaiso present in the Museo de Zoologia de Chile. Later in 1892, he once more described L. rosea with the same specimen as mentioned in the “Posdata” of that paper. His descriptions in both instances were very poor and could fit any other species; even the drawing of L. rosea is very schematic and without any detail (Philippi 1892, pl. 2, Fig. 1). As Philippi’s material seems to be lost and no recently collected material from Chile resembling this species was available, we used specimens from California for the description. We do not exclude the possibility the material from California actually represents another species, but so far it most resembles Philippi’s description.

The name Leptogorgia chilensis appears for the first time in Verrill 1868b with a “?”, and Plexaura rosea (non L. rosea Milne Edwards & Haime ) in the synonymy. Verrill (1868b) renamed L. rosea of Philippi as L. chilensis to avoid homonymy with L. rosea of Milne Edwards and Haime.

Verrill (1968c) described L. caryi with one specimen from California, near San Francisco, that was supposedly deposited in the MCZ, but we found neither it nor any other specimen identified by Verrill under this species. The drawings provided by Verrill of two sclerites could well fit any other species. The only specimen that we discovered labeled as L. caryi was USNM 5988 (not a type) from Isla Santa Catalina, California, which agrees in all aspects with L. chilensis . Therefore, we consider L. caryi as a dubious species.

The species is similar to L. flexilis in the lax dichotomous branching and the colour of the colony, but differs in the size and colours of the sclerites, especially in the anthocodial rods, which are larger, and darker in L. flexilis ( Table 1).