| Gorgonia flabellum | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Venus sea fan showing lateral branchlets | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Cnidaria |
| Class: | Octocorallia |
| Order: | Alcyonacea |
| Family: | Gorgoniidae |
| Genus: | Gorgonia |
| Species: | G. flabellum |
| Binomial name | |
| Gorgonia flabellum | |
Gorgonia flabellum, also known as the Venus fan, Venus sea fan, West Indian sea fan, and purple gorgonian seafan, is a species of sea fan, a sessile colonial soft coral. [2]
The Venus sea fan is a delicate-looking colonial soft coral in the form of a fan composed of a lattice of branches in a single plane. The coral grows from a small base, forming several main branches with side branches and a network of small branchlets. The Venus sea fan is similar in appearance to Gorgonia ventalina , but has a slightly more untidy shape and short, stubby side growths coming out of the main plane. [3] In G. flabellum, the branches are flattened at right angles to the plane of the fan, while in G. ventalina, the branches are either round or flattened parallel to the plane of the fan. The wide-mesh sea fan ( Gorgonia mariae ) is also similar in appearance, but at only 30 cm, is smaller, and many of the branchlets do not interconnect. [4] The Venus sea fan is white, yellowish, or pale lavender. The fan is often found oriented perpendicular to the incoming waves and can grow to a height of 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in). [3] [5]
The Venus sea fan is very common in the Bahamas, and in this location is easily distinguishable from G. ventalina. In other parts of its range, Florida and the Lesser Antilles, however, the two species are more easily confused.[ why? ] It is a shallow-water species seldom exceeding a depth of 10 m (33 ft) and favours locations with strong wave action. [3]
The skeleton of the Venus sea fan is composed of calcite and a collagen-like substance. Embedded in this are the coral polyps, each of which is a filter feeder and extends its eight tentacles to catch plankton drifting past with the current. [3] The tissues contain symbiotic dinoflagellate algae Symbiodinium spp. which are photosynthetic and use sunlight to create organic carbon compounds which are then available to the host coral. [3]
Anthozoa is a subphylum 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.
Gorgonia is a genus of soft corals, sea fans in the family Gorgoniidae.
Alcyonacea,, 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.
Octocorallia is a class of Anthozoa comprising around 3,000 species of water-based organisms formed of colonial polyps with 8-fold symmetry. It includes the blue coral, soft corals, sea pens, and gorgonians within three orders: Alcyonacea, Helioporacea, and Pennatulacea. These organisms have an internal skeleton secreted by mesoglea and polyps with eight tentacles and eight mesentaries. As with all Cnidarians these organisms have a complex life cycle including a motile phase when they are considered plankton and later characteristic sessile phase.
The flamingo tongue snail is a species of small but brightly colored sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Ovulidae, the cowry allies.
Tritonicula hamnerorum is a species of dendronotid nudibranch. It is a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Tritoniidae. A number of Caribbean species of Tritonia were moved to a new genus Tritonicula in 2020 as a result of an integrative taxonomic study of the family Tritoniidae.
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.
In 1758, in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, the Swedish scientist and taxonomist Carl Linnaeus described the class "Vermes" as:
Animals of slow motion, soft substance, able to increase their bulk and restore parts which have been destroyed, extremely tenacious of life, and the inhabitants of moist places. Many of them are without a distinct head, and most of them without feet. They are principally distinguished by their tentacles. By the Ancients they were not improperly called imperfect animals, as being destitute of ears, nose, head, eyes and legs; and are therefore totally distinct from Insects.
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 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.
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.
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.
Gorgonia ventalina, the common sea fan and purple sea fan, is a species of sea fan, an octocoral in the family Gorgoniidae. It is found in the western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
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.
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.
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.
Antillogorgia bipinnata, the bipinnate sea plume, is a species of colonial soft coral, a sea fan in the family Gorgoniidae. It is found in the Caribbean Sea. It was first described as Pseudopterogorgia bipinnata in 1864 by the American zoologist Addison Emery Verrill. Williams and Chen (2012), transferred all the Atlantic species of Pseudopterogorgia to Antillogorgia.
Acropora pharaonis is a species of acroporid coral that was first described by Milne-Edwards and Haime in 1860. Found in marine, tropical, reefs on slopes sheltered from wave action, it occurs at depths of between 5 and 25 m. It is classed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List, and it has a decreasing population. It is common and found over a large area and is classified under CITES Appendix II.
Gorgonia mariae, commonly known as the wide-mesh sea fan, is a species of sea fan, a sessile colonial soft coral in the family Gorgoniidae. It occurs in the tropical western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea at depths down to about 50 m (160 ft).
Manicina areolata, commonly known as rose coral, is a colonial species of stony coral. It occurs in shallow water in the West Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, sometimes as small solid heads and sometimes as unattached cone-shaped forms.
