Alcyonium coralloides

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Alcyonium coralloides
Alcyonium coralloides (Pallas, 1766), Leptogorgia sarmentosa (Esper, 1791) 1.jpg
Alcyonium coralloides overgrowing Leptogorgia sarmentosa
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Anthozoa
Order: Alcyonacea
Family: Alcyoniidae
Genus: Alcyonium
Species:
A. coralloides
Binomial name
Alcyonium coralloides
(Pallas, 1766) [1]
Synonyms [1]
  • Parerythropodium coralloides (Pallas, 1766)

Alcyonium coralloides, commonly known as false coral, is a colonial species of soft coral in the family Alcyoniidae. It is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. In the former location it generally grows as sheets or small lobes but in the latter it is parasitic and overgrows sea fans.

Contents

Taxonomy

This soft coral was first described in 1766 by the Russian naturalist Peter Simon Pallas who named it Parerythropodium coralloides. It was later determined on the basis of its growth forms, the nature of its spicules (small skeletal elements) and the passages in its coenenchyme (the tissue uniting the polyps) that it should be included in the genus Alcyonium and it was renamed Alcyonium coralloides. [2]

Distribution and habitat

Alcyonium coralloides is plentiful in the Mediterranean Sea but less common on the Atlantic coast of Western Europe and in the English Channel. The northern limit of its range is Scotland. In the Atlantic Ocean, colonies are small and grow directly on vertical rock faces, under overhangs and in caves. In the Mediterranean, colonies usually grow on sea fans such as Eunicella , Paramuricea and Leptogorgia , as well as on the tunicate Microcosmus and on coralline algae. [3] Some species commonly colonised include Eunicella singularis , Eunicella cavolinii , Eunicella verrucosa , Paramuricea clavata and Leptogorgia sarmentosa . [4]

Description

Alcyonium coralloides has several different habits of growth. In the Atlantic Ocean it sometimes grows as encrusting sheets over rock surfaces. These are red with white or yellow polyps, sometimes having bare areas from which polyps are absent. More frequently, it grows in short finger-like lobes up to 4 cm (1.6 in) long, pale pink with white polyps. It seldom encrusts sea fans. [3]

Alcyonium coralloides overgrowing Eunicella singularis Alcyonium coralloides (Pallas, 1766) var. rouge 3.jpg
Alcyonium coralloides overgrowing Eunicella singularis

In the Mediterranean, the habit of growth of Alcyonium coralloides is often encrusting, growing over the surface of a gorgonian. The sea fan has a rigid skeleton so Alcyonium coralloides does not need a supportive skeleton but it does however have spicules in its surface layers which makes it rough to the touch. The colour of the colony is often purple, but may be white, pink or yellow. [3] The white and pink forms mainly occur in deep water and are considered mutants. [2] The polyps, which are usually white, cream or yellow, may be 5 mm (0.2 in) long and are usually larger than those of the sea fan it is encrusting. [3] It can be considered parasitic as the tissues of the sea fan are killed and Alcyonium coralloides adheres to the underlying skeleton. The mechanism by which it kills its host's tissues is not understood. Occasionally in the Mediterranean, this soft coral exhibits a lobed form similar to Atlantic colonies. [3]

Biology

Like other soft corals, Alcyonium coralloides is a suspension feeder. The polyps spread their pinnate tentacles wide and passively gather zooplankton and organic particles from the water flowing past. [3] By colonising gorgonians, Alcyonium coralloides is raised above the surface of the substrate. This is advantageous to it as the water flow, and thus the supply of plankton, is enhanced. [4]

Colonies are either male or female and sexual reproduction occurs in Mediterranean populations. [2] With a period of five or six months, the length of gametogenesis is shorter than for any other littoral octocorals. Larvae have been observed in the gastric cavity of females in May and in the open water in June, being ready to settle in early summer, a time at which the host corals are most vulnerable because of their own breeding activities. [4] In the Atlantic, reproduction is mainly by parthenogenesis, with embryos being brooded inside the gastric cavity of their parent, to be liberated as juveniles with limited dispersal ability. This may explain the lack of variability and the rather patchy distribution of this soft coral in the Atlantic as compared to its abundance in the western Mediterranean. [2]

Related Research Articles

Anthozoa A class of cnidarians without a medusa stage

Anthozoa is a class of marine invertebrates which includes the sea anemones, stony corals and soft corals. Adult anthozoans are almost all attached to the seabed, while their larvae can disperse as part of the plankton. The basic unit of the adult is the polyp; this consists of a cylindrical column topped by a disc with a central mouth surrounded by tentacles. Sea anemones are mostly solitary, but the majority of corals are colonial, being formed by the budding of new polyps from an original, founding individual. Colonies are strengthened by calcium carbonate and other materials and take various massive, plate-like, bushy or leafy forms.

Alcyonacea An order of octocorals that do not produce massive calcium carbonate skeletons

Alcyonacea, or soft corals, are an order of corals. In addition to the fleshy soft corals, the order Alcyonacea now contains all species previously known as "gorgonian corals", that produce a more or less hard skeleton, though quite different from "true" corals (Scleractinia). These can be found in suborders Holaxonia, Scleraxonia, and Stolonifera. They are sessile colonial cnidarians that are found throughout the oceans of the world, especially in the deep sea, polar waters, tropics and subtropics. Common names for subsets of this order are sea fans and sea whips; others are similar to the sea pens of related order Pennatulacea. Individual tiny polyps form colonies that are normally erect, flattened, branching, and reminiscent of a fan. Others may be whiplike, bushy, or even encrusting. A colony can be several feet high and across, but only a few inches thick. They may be brightly coloured, often purple, red, or yellow. Photosynthetic gorgonians can be successfully kept in captive aquaria.

<i>Eunicella verrucosa</i> Species of coral

Eunicella verrucosa, the broad sea fan, pink sea fan or warty gorgonian, is a species of colonial Gorgonian "soft coral" in the family Gorgoniidae. It is native to the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean and the western Mediterranean Sea.

<i>Simnia spelta</i> Species of gastropod

Simnia spelta is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Ovulidae, the ovulids, which are cowrie allies sometimes called "false cowries". It was first described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus.

<i>Parazoanthus axinellae</i> Species of sea anemone

Parazoanthus axinellae, commonly known as the yellow cluster anemone, is a zoanthid coral found on the southern Atlantic coasts of Europe and in the Mediterranean Sea. Zoanthids differ from true sea anemones, in having a different internal anatomy and in forming true colonies in which the individual animals (polyps) are connected by a common tissue, called the coenenchyme.

Holaxonia Suborder of corals

Holaxonia is a suborder of soft corals, a member of the phylum Cnidaria. Members of this suborder are sometimes known as gorgonians and include the sea blades, the sea fans, the sea rods and the sea whips. These soft corals are colonial, sessile organisms and are generally tree-like in structure. They do not have a hard skeleton composed of calcium carbonate but have a firm but pliable, central axial skeleton composed of a fibrous protein called gorgonin embedded in a tissue matrix, the coenenchyme. In some genera this is permeated with a calcareous substance in the form of fused spicules. Members of this suborder are characterized by having an unspiculated axis and often a soft, chambered central core. The polyps have eight-fold symmetry and in many species, especially in the families Gorgoniidae and Plexauridae, contain symbiotic photosynthetic algae called zooxanthellae. These soft corals are popular in salt water aquaria.

Gorgoniidae Family of corals

Gorgoniidae is a family of soft corals, a member of the subclass Octocorallia in the phylum Cnidaria. Nearly all the genera and species are native to the east and west coasts of America.

<i>Leptogorgia virgulata</i> Species of coral

Leptogorgia virgulata, commonly known as the sea whip or colorful sea whip, is a species of soft coral in the family Gorgoniidae.

<i>Millepora alcicornis</i> Species of hydrozoan

Millepora alcicornis, or sea ginger, is a species of colonial fire coral with a calcareous skeleton. It is found on shallow water coral reefs in the tropical west Atlantic Ocean. It shows a variety of different morphologies depending on its location. It feeds on plankton and derives part of its energy requirements from microalgae found within its tissues. It is an important member of the reef building community and subject to the same threats as other corals. It can cause painful stings to unwary divers.

<i>Melithaea ochracea</i> Species of coral

Melithaea ochracea is a species of colonial soft coral in the family Melithaeidae, commonly known as knotted fan coral. It grows in tree-like fans on coral reefs in the South China Sea. It is used in the jewellery industry under the name red spongy coral.

<i>Leptogorgia hebes</i> Species of coral

Leptogorgia hebes, commonly known as the regal sea fan or false sea fan, is a species of soft coral in the family Gorgoniidae. It was formerly included in the genus Lophogorgia but that genus has been dismantled.

<i>Alcyonium acaule</i> Species of coral

Alcyonium acaule or Mediterranean sea-finger is a species of soft coral in the family Alcyoniidae. It is found at moderate depths on shaded rocks in the Mediterranean Sea and adjoining parts of the Atlantic Ocean.

<i>Paramuricea clavata</i> Species of coral

Paramuricea clavata, the violescent sea-whip, is a species of colonial soft coral in the family Plexauridae. It is found in shallow seas of the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean and the north-western Mediterranean Sea as well as Ionian Sea. This species was first described by the French naturalist Antoine Risso in 1826.

<i>Eunicella cavolini</i> Species of coral

Eunicella cavolini, commonly known as the yellow gorgonian or yellow sea whip, is a species of colonial soft coral in the family Gorgoniidae. It is native to parts of the eastern Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and Ionian Sea where it is a common species.

<i>Leptogorgia sarmentosa</i> Species of coral

Leptogorgia sarmentosa is a species of colonial soft coral, a sea fan in the family Gorgoniidae. It is native to the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the western Mediterranean Sea, with a single find in the eastern Mediterranean.

<i>Eunicella singularis</i> Species of coral

Eunicella singularis, the white gorgonian, is a species of colonial soft coral, a sea fan in the family Gorgoniidae. It is found in the western Mediterranean Sea, Adriatic Sea and Ionian Sea. It was first described in 1791 by the German naturalist Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper.

<i>Caryophyllia smithii</i> Species of coral

Caryophyllia smithii, the Devonshire cup coral, is a species of solitary coral in the family Caryophylliidae. It is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. There are shallow and deep-water forms which are structurally different. It forms part of a biodiverse community of rock encrusting organisms and is often parasitised by a barnacle.

<i>Savalia savaglia</i> Species of coral

Savalia savaglia, commonly known as gold coral, is a species of colonial false black coral in the family Parazoanthidae. It is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea where it often grows in association with a gorgonian. It is extremely long-lived, with a lifespan of 2,700 years, and develops into a large tree-like colony.

<i>Leiopathes glaberrima</i> Species of cnidarian

Leiopathes glaberrima is a species of black coral of the order Antipatharia found in the northern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Seas deep water habitats. A very slow-growing species, it is among the oldest living animals on the planet.

References

  1. 1 2 van Ofwegen, Leen (2014). "Alcyonium coralloides (Pallas, 1766)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 2014-12-19.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Groot, Steven; Weinberg, Steven (1982). "Biogeography, Taxonomical Status and Ecology of Alcyonium (Parerythropodium) coralloides (Pallas, 1766)". Marine Ecology. 3 (4): 293–312. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0485.1982.tb00281.x.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Perrier, Philippe; André, Frédéric; Péan, Michel (2014-01-17). "Alcyonium coralloides (Pallas, 1766)". DORIS (in French). Retrieved 2014-12-19.
  4. 1 2 3 Elena Quintanilla; Josep-Maria Gili; Pablo J. López-González; Georgios Tsounis; Teresa Madurell; Ida Fiorillo; Sergio Rossi (2013). "Sexual reproductive cycle of the epibiotic soft coral Alcyonium coralloides (Octocorallia, Alcyonacea)". Aquatic Biology. 18 (2): 113–124. doi: 10.3354/ab00493 .
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