DOCSLIB.ORG

A Centuries Old Problem in Nephtheid Taxonomy Approached Using DNA Data (Coelenterata: Alcyonacea)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Centuries Old Problem in Nephtheid Taxonomy Approached Using DNA Data (Coelenterata: Alcyonacea) Contributions to Zoology, 76 (3) 153-178 (2007) A centuries old problem in nephtheid taxonomy approached using DNA data (Coelenterata: Alcyonacea) L.P. van Ofwegen, D.S.J. Groenenberg Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum Naturalis, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands, ofwegen@ naturalis.nl Key words: soft corals, Octocorallia, Nephtheidae, Dendronephthya, Litophyton, Neospongodes, Nephthea, Stereo nephthya, taxonomy, internal transcribed spacer I and II, Indo-Pacifi c Abstract Results ............................................................................................. 175 Discussion ...................................................................................... 177 The current centuries old classifi cation of the family Nephthei- Acknowledgements ...................................................................... 178 dae is still mostly based on colony morphology. In this family References ...................................................................................... 178 the Indo-Pacifc genera Litophyton, Nephthea, Dendronephthya and Stereonephthya, and the Atlantic genus Neospongodes form a complex mix of closely related, poorly described species Introduction which cannot be recognized using only colony morphology. At- tempts with the more modern approach of comparing skeleton After the Alcyoniidae Lamouroux, 1812, the family composition (sclerites) have been only partly successful be- cause of the extreme variation of sclerite forms present in these Nephtheidae Gray, 1862, is the most common soft genera. The genus Chromonephthea Van Ofwegen, 2005, intro- coral family in tropical Indo-Pacifi c waters regarding duced for several species previously assigned to Dendroneph- numbers of genera and species. The often colourful thya, Nephthea and Stereonephthya, was established with scle- colonies of nephtheid species can form large aggre- rite morphology, but the true generic status of the majority of gates by asexual reproduction. Most species have tree- the nominal species of these genera remained unresolved. In an or bush-like colonies and can be found from low tide attempt to clarify the phylogenetic relationships between Lito- phyton, Nephthea, Stereonephthya and Chromonephthea four- to the abyss. teen specimens, unidentifi ed but certainly belonging to these In the tropical Indo-Pacifi c twelve nominal genera genera, have been used in molecular analyses. All analyses sup- are currently assigned to the Nephtheidae: Litophyton ported two clades, which could be related to the shape of the Forskål, 1775; Nephthea Audouin, 1828; Lemnalia sclerites present in the polyp stalks. One clade contained the Gray, 1868; Capnella Gray, 1869; Scleronephthya specimens with characters for Stereonephthya along with the Studer, 1887; Dendronephthya Kükenthal, 1905; Chromonephthea specimen as a sister group. The other clade had a ‘true’ Nephthea and Litophyton together with the speci- Stereo nephthya Kükenthal, 1905; Paralemnalia Kü- mens that could not be placed in any particular genus using the ken thal, 1913; Umbellulifera Thomson and Dean, old classifi cation criteria. The consequences of these results for 1931; Leptophyton Van Ofwegen and Schleyer, 1997; nephtheid classifi cation are discussed. Pacifi phyton Williams, 1997; and Chromonephthea Van Ofwegen, 2005. On the basis of a recent molecu- lar phylogenetic study, McFadden et al. (2006) sug- Contents gest that less genera are involved, because in their analysis Lemnalia and Paralemnalia form a clade Introduction .................................................................................... 153 with the alcyoniid Rhytisma Alderslade, 2000, and Short history of the genera Litophyton, Nephthea, Capnella a clade with the paralcyoniid genera Paral- Stereonephthya, Dendronephthya and Neospongodes .......... 154 cyonium Milne Edwards and Haime, 1850, and Stude- The modern classifi cation ........................................................... 154 riotes Thomson and Simpson, 1909. Short descriptions of the material used .................................... 155 Methods .......................................................................................... 173 In the Atlantic, the Antarctic and the colder waters Sequence variation ................................................................. 173 of the Pacifi c an additional seven genera have been Phylogenetic analyses ............................................................ 174 described in the nephtheids, one of which, viz. the 154 Van Ofwegen and Groenenberg – Taxonomy of soft corals (Nephtheidae) using DNA analysis tropical Atlantic Neospongodes Kükenthal, 1903, re- Polyps without a supporting bundle, sembles the Indo-Pacifi c Stereonephthya regarding polyps in catkins ............................................... Litophyton sclerites and colony form. Polyps with a supporting bundle, To date, Litophyton, Nephthea, Dendronephthya polyps in catkins .................................................. Nephthea and Stereonephthya form a complex mix of closely re- Polyps with a supporting bundle, lated but poorly described species. Hence, around 1990, polyps in bundles or alone, no axis ... Stereonephtya the fi rst author started a morphological revision of the Polyps with a supporting bundle, genera Litophyton, Nephthea, and Stereonephthya, also polyps in bundles or alone, including a number of species assigned to Dendroneph- internal axis of spindles ........................ Neospongodes thya and the monotypic Atlantic genus Neospongodes. Polyps with a supporting bundle, A fi rst outcome of this study was the description of the polyps in bundles ................................. Dendronephthya genus Chromonephthea Van Ofwegen, 2005, for sev- eral species previously assigned to Dendronephthya, Dendronephthya is subdivided into three groups: Nephthea and Stereonephthya. Sparsely arborescent branching colonies with slen- In an attempt to clarify the phylogenetic relation- der ramifi cations, and polyps in small insignifi cant ships between some species that are actually classifi ed bundles ........................................................... Divaricata-group with Litophyton, Nephthea, Stereonephthya, and Chro- Close short branching colonies where the polyp monephthea, a few molecular markers previously bundles are assembled, forming large, distinctly round- tested with octocorals were used. By doing so the sta- ed bunches .................................................... Glomerata-group tus of the morphological characters nowadays em- Polyp bundles closely arranged at the same level on ployed in nephtheids can be compared with the result- the ends of the twigs, forming numerous umbrella-like ing phylogeny. crowns. Several umbrella-like sections may combine to form hemispheres ................................ Umbellata-group Short history of the genera Litophyton, Nephthea, Later on, Utinomi (1954) designated Nephthea savignyi Stereonephthya, Dendronephthya and Neospon- Ehrenberg, 1834, as the type species of Dendroneph- godes thya and Stereonephthya papyracea Kükenthal, 1905, as the type species of Stereonephthya. He character- Forskål (1775) described the fi rst Indo-Pacifi c nepht- ized Stereonephthya as follows: (1) supporting bundles heid, Litophyton arboreum, from an unknown locality of the polyps well developed, each with a strong pro- in the Red Sea. According to modern standards his de- jecting tip, (2) ventral side of the polyp stalk with small scription was inadequate. The material on which he tiny rods, (3) polyp heads usually hanging down from based his description is lost. their stalks, like a campanulate fl ower, (4) dorsal points Andouin (1828), referring to plates published by strong, ventral points poorly supported or lacking. Savigny (1817), erected two additional nephtheid gen- Finally, Verseveldt (1983) re-examined Neospon- era from the Red Sea, viz. Ammothea for A. virescens, godes atlantica and N. bahiensis, the two species Kü- and Nephthea, for N. chabrolii. As far as known, the kenthal (1903) referred to Neospongodes. Verseveldt material on which these two taxa were based has been designated a lectotype for N. atlantica and synonymized also lost. N. bahiensis with N. atlantica. He changed the diagno- After this a period followed in which numerous sis of Neospongodes to “Tree-like, very fl abby nepht- nominal genera and subgenera were introduced or syn- heids, with a slender stalk and stem. Polyps isolated onymized. Many new species were described, and oth- and scattered on thin branches and twigs, with sup- ers were moved from genus to genus. porting bundles”. Kükenthal (1903, 1905) made a revision of the nephtheids in which he abandoned Ammothea and de- scribed three more genera, Neospongodes Kükenthal, The modern classifi cation 1903, Dendronephthya Kükenthal, 1905, and Stereo- nephthya Kükenthal, 1905, all of which without as- Re-examination of most of the type specimens of the signing a type species. He presented the following species described in Litophyton, Nephthea and Stereo- classifi cation, which is still used by most authors (for nephthya showed that the characters used by Kükenthal details of terminology, see Bayer et al. (1983)): (1903, 1905) may be problematic: Contributions to Zoology, 76 (3) – 2007 155 1) The presence of a supporting bundle is not as Short descriptions of the material used straightforward a character as suggested by Kü ken- thal (1905). In the re-examined holotype of Lito- The material used for DNA analyses is briefl y charac- phyton acutifolium
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Preliminary Report on the Octocorals (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Octocorallia) from the Ogasawara Islands
    国立科博専報，(52), pp. 65–94 , 2018 年 3 月 28 日 Mem. Natl. Mus. Nat. Sci., Tokyo, (52), pp. 65–94, March 28, 2018 Preliminary Report on the Octocorals (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Octocorallia) from the Ogasawara Islands Yukimitsu Imahara1* and Hiroshi Namikawa2 1Wakayama Laboratory, Biological Institute on Kuroshio, 300–11 Kire, Wakayama, Wakayama 640–0351, Japan *E-mail: [email protected] 2Showa Memorial Institute, National Museum of Nature and Science, 4–1–1 Amakubo, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305–0005, Japan Abstract. Approximately 400 octocoral specimens were collected from the Ogasawara Islands by SCUBA diving during 2013–2016 and by dredging surveys by the R/V Koyo of the Tokyo Met- ropolitan Ogasawara Fisheries Center in 2014 as part of the project “Biological Properties of Bio- diversity Hotspots in Japan” at the National Museum of Nature and Science. Here we report on 52 lots of these octocoral specimens that have been identified to 42 species thus far. The specimens include seven species of three genera in two families of Stolonifera, 25 species of ten genera in two families of Alcyoniina, one species of Scleraxonia, and nine species of four genera in three families of Pennatulacea. Among them, three species of Stolonifera: Clavularia cf. durum Hick- son, C. cf. margaritiferae Thomson & Henderson and C. cf. repens Thomson & Henderson, and five species of Alcyoniina: Lobophytum variatum Tixier-Durivault, L. cf. mirabile Tixier- Durivault, Lohowia koosi Alderslade, Sarcophyton cf. boletiforme Tixier-Durivault and Sinularia linnei Ofwegen, are new to Japan. In particular, Lohowia koosi is the first discovery since the orig- inal description from the east coast of Australia.
    [Show full text]
  • Planula Release, Settlement, Metamorphosis and Growth in Two Deep-Sea Soft Corals
    REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY OF DEEP-SEA SOFT CORALS IN THE NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR REGION by ©Zhao Sun A thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Ocean Sciences Centre and Department of Biology, Memorial University, St. John's (Newfoundland and Labrador) Canada 28 April2009 ABSTRACT This research integrates processing of pre erved samples and, for the first time, long-term monitoring of live colonies and the study of planula behaviour and settlement preferences in four deep-sea brooding octocorals (Alcyonacea: Nephtheidae). Results indicate that reproduction can be correlated to bottom temperature, photoperiod, wind speed and fluctuations in phytoplankton abundance. Large planula larvae are polymorphic, exhibit ubstratum selectivity and can fuse together or with a parent colony. Planulae of two Drifa species are also able to metamorphose in the water column before ettlement. Thi research thus brings evidence of both the resilience (i.e., extended breeding period, demersal larvae with a long competency period) and vulnerability (i.e., substratum selectivity, slow growth) of deep-water corals; and open up new perspectives on experimental tudies of deep-sea organisms. II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor Annie Mercier, as well a Jean-Fran~oi Hamel, for their continuou guidance, support and encouragement. With great patience and pas ion, they helped me adapt to graduate studies. I would also like to thank my co- upervisor Evan Edinger, committee member Paul Snelgrove and examiners Catherine McFadden and Robert Hooper for providing valuable input and for comment on the manuscripts and thesis.
    [Show full text]
  • Two New Records of Dendronephthya Octocorals (Family: Nephtheidae) from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India
    Indian Journal of Geo Marine Sciences Vol. 48 (03), March 2019, pp. 343-348 Two new records of Dendronephthya octocorals (Family: Nephtheidae) from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India J.S. Yogesh Kumar1*, S. Geetha2, C. Raghunathan3, & R. Sornaraj2 1 Marine Aquarium and Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change), Government of India, Digha, West Bengal, India 2 Research Department of Zoology, Kamaraj College (Manonmaniam Sundaranar University), Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, India 3 Zoological Survey of India, (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change), Government of India, M Block, New Alipore, Kolkata, India *[E-mail: [email protected]] Received 04 August 2017: revised 23 November 2017 An extensive survey to explore the variety and distribution of octocorals and associated faunal community in and around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands yielded two species (Dendronephthya mucronata and D. savignyi), which is new zoogeographical record in India. The elaborate description, distribution and morphological characters are presented in this paper. The literature reveals that so far 55 species of Dendronephthya octocorals have been recorded from India. [Keywords: Soft corals, Octocorals, Dendronephthya, Carnation corals, Andaman and Nicobar islands] Introduction circumscribed to the works of Henderson17. The The genus Dendronephthya (Cnidaria: Octocorallia: above studies reported 53 new species. Henderson's Alcyonacea: Nephtheidae) is an azooxanthellate and work was based on the material made available from colourful soft coral reported in the warm coastal the Royal Indian Marine Survey ship collections from waters of the Indo-Pacific region, supporting reef several Indian Ocean locations, of which 34 species formation of coral reef ecosystems throughout the were reported from Andaman and Nicobar islands.
    [Show full text]
  • Symbiont Identity Influences Patterns of Symbiosis Establishment, Host
    Reference: Biol. Bull. 234: 1–10. (February 2018) © 2018 The University of Chicago Symbiont Identity Influences Patterns of Symbiosis Establishment, Host Growth, and Asexual Reproduction in a Model Cnidarian- Dinoflagellate Symbiosis YASMIN GABAY1, VIRGINIA M. WEIS2, AND SIMON K. DAVY1,* 1School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Kelburn Parade, Wellington 6140, New Zealand; and 2Department of Integrative Biology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331 Abstract. The genus Symbiodinium is physiologically di- study enhances our understanding of the link between symbi- verse and so may differentially influence symbiosis establish- ont identity and the performance of the overall symbiosis, ment and function. To explore this, we inoculated aposymbiotic which is important for understanding the potential establish- individuals of the sea anemone Exaiptasia pallida (commonly ment and persistence of novel host-symbiont pairings. Impor- referred to as “Aiptasia”), a model for coral symbiosis, with one tantly, we also provide a baseline for further studies on this of five Symbiodinium species or types (S. microadriaticum, topic with the globally adopted “Aiptasia” model system. S. minutum, phylotype C3, S. trenchii,orS. voratum). The spatial pattern of colonization was monitored over time via Introduction confocal microscopy, and various physiological parameters were Among the most significant marine mutualisms are those measured to assess symbiosis functionality. Anemones rapidly between cnidarians and their photosynthetic dinoflagellate formed a symbiosis with the homologous symbiont, S. minu- symbionts (Roth, 2014). These interactions, in particular, be- tum, but struggled or failed to form a long-lasting symbiosis tween anthozoan cnidarians (e.g., corals and sea anemones) with Symbiodinium C3 or S. voratum, respectively.
    [Show full text]
  • Adaptive Divergence, Neutral Panmixia, and Algal Symbiont Population Structure in the Temperate Coral Astrangia Poculata Along the Mid-Atlantic United States
    Adaptive divergence, neutral panmixia, and algal symbiont population structure in the temperate coral Astrangia poculata along the Mid-Atlantic United States Hannah E. Aichelman1,2 and Daniel J. Barshis2 1 Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA 2 Department of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA ABSTRACT Astrangia poculata is a temperate scleractinian coral that exists in facultative symbiosis with the dinoflagellate alga Breviolum psygmophilum across a range spanning the Gulf of Mexico to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Our previous work on metabolic thermal performance of Virginia (VA) and Rhode Island (RI) populations of A. poculata revealed physiological signatures of cold (RI) and warm (VA) adaptation of these populations to their respective local thermal environments. Here, we used whole-transcriptome sequencing (mRNA-Seq) to evaluate genetic differences and identify potential loci involved in the adaptive signature of VA and RI populations. Sequencing data from 40 A. poculata individuals, including 10 colonies from each population and symbiotic state (VA-white, VA-brown, RI-white, and RI-brown), yielded a total of 1,808 host-associated and 59 algal symbiont-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) post filtration. Fst outlier analysis identified 66 putative high outlier SNPs in the coral host and 4 in the algal symbiont. Differentiation of VA and RI populations in the coral host was driven by putatively adaptive loci, not neutral divergence (Fst = 0.16, p = 0.001 and Fst = 0.002, p = 0.269 for outlier and neutral SNPs respectively). In contrast, we found evidence of neutral population differentiation in B. psygmophilum (Fst = 0.093, p = 0.001).
    [Show full text]
  • Pattern of Distribution and Adaptation to Different Lrradiance Levels of Zooxanthellae in the Soft Coral Litophyton Arboreum (Octocorallia, Alcyonacea)
    Symbiosis, 3 (1987) 23-40 23 Balaban Publishers, Philadelphia/Rehovot Pattern of Distribution and Adaptation to Different lrradiance Levels of Zooxanthellae in the Soft Coral Litophyton arboreum (Octocorallia, Alcyonacea) TAMAR BERNER, YAIR ACHITUV, ZVY DUBINSKY and YEHUDA BENAYAHU1 Department of Life Sciences, Bar-flan University, Ramat-Gan 52100, 1 Department of Zoology, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat-Aoio, Israel Tel. 03-718283 Telex 361311 BARIL IL Received 27 August, 1986; Accepted 2 December 1986 Abstract Photoadaptation responses of endosymbiotic zooxanthellae exposed to differ• ent light intensity within the same colony of the soft coral Litophyton arboreum were studied. Differences in the ultrastructure, including number and total length of sections of thylakoids as compared to chloroplast and cell mem• brane perimeter were measured. Chlorophyll a is 2.5-fold higher in cells from low light intensity as compared with cells taken from high light intensity. Chlorophyll a to c ratio of algae under lower light intensity increases in com• parison to high irradiance. All the results show higher light harvesting capac• ity in terms of ultrastructure and pigment content in the same shade-adapted algae as compared to the light-adapted ones. Keywords: Litophyton, Octocorallia, zooxanthellae, light-shade adaptation, syrn• biosls, ultrastructure, Red Sea 1. Introduction The existence of symbiotic algae within Coelenterata has been recognized as early as 1882 (Brandt, 1882; Entz, 1882) and various aspect of this as• sociation have been extensively studied since then. These studies have been reviewed, among others, by Droop (1963), McLaughlin and Zahl (1966), Trench (1971), Taylor (1973), Muscatine (1974), and Glider and Pardy (1982).
    [Show full text]
  • Title a DISTRIBUTION STUDY of the OCTOCORALLIA OF
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Kyoto University Research Information Repository A DISTRIBUTION STUDY OF THE OCTOCORALLIA OF Title OREGON Author(s) Belcik, Francis P. PUBLICATIONS OF THE SETO MARINE BIOLOGICAL Citation LABORATORY (1977), 24(1-3): 49-52 Issue Date 1977-11-30 URL http://hdl.handle.net/2433/175960 Right Type Departmental Bulletin Paper Textversion publisher Kyoto University A DISTRIBUTION STUDY OF THE OCTOCORALLIA OF OREGON FRANCIS P. BELCIK Department of Biology, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina 27834, U.S.A. With Text-figure 1 and Tables 1-2 Introduction: The purpose of this report was to identify the species of octocorals, note their occurrence or distribution and also their numbers. The Octocorals of this report were collected :rhainly from the Oregonian Region. The majority of specimens were collected by the Oceanography Department of Oregon State University at depths below 86 meters. A few inshore species were collected at various sites along the Oregon Coast (see Fig. 1). Only two species were found in the Intertidal Zone; the bulk of the Octocoral fauna occur offshore in deeper water. Most of the deep water specimens are now deposited in the Oceanography Department of Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. The inshore speci­ mens have remained in my personal collection. Identification Methods: No references have been published for the soft corals of Oregon; although col­ lections have possibly been made in the past. Helpful sources for identification, after the standard methods of corrosion, and spicule measurements have been made are: Bayer, 1961; Hickson, 1915; Kiikenthal, 1907, and 1913; Nutting, 1909 and 1912; Utinomi, 1960, 1961, and 1966 and Verrill, 1922.
    [Show full text]
  • Embryo and Larval Biology of the Deep- Sea Octocoral Dentomuricea Aff
    Embryo and larval biology of the deep- sea octocoral Dentomuricea aff. meteor under different temperature regimes Maria Rakka1,2 António Godinho1,2 Covadonga Orejas3 Marina Carreiro-Silva1,2 1 IMAR-Instituto do Mar, Universidade dos Acores,¸ Horta, Portugal 2 Okeanos-Instituto de Investigacão¸ em Ciências do Mar da Universidade dos Acores,¸ Horta, Portugal 3 Centro Oceanográfico de Gijón, Instituto Español de Oceanografia, IEO, CSIC, Gijón, Spain ABSTRACT Deep-sea octocorals are common habitat-formers in deep-sea ecosystems, however, our knowledge on their early life history stages is extremely limited. The present study focuses on the early life history of the species Dentomuricea aff. meteor, a common deep- sea octocoral in the Azores. The objective was to describe the embryo and larval biology of the target species under two temperature regimes, corresponding to the minimum and maximum temperatures in its natural environment during the spawning season. At temperature of 13 ±0.5 ◦C, embryos of the species reached the planula stage after 96h and displayed a median survival of 11 days. Planulae displayed swimming only after stimulation, swimming speed was 0.24 ±0.16 mm s−1 and increased slightly but significantly with time. Under a higher temperature (15 ◦C ±0.5 ◦C) embryos reached the planula stage 24 h earlier (after 72 h), displayed a median survival of 16 days and had significantly higher swimming speed (0.3 ±0.27 mm s−1). Although the differences in survival were not statistically significant, our results highlight how small changes in temperature can affect embryo and larval characteristics with potential cascading effects in larval dispersal and success.
    [Show full text]
  • Diversity, Distribution, and Molecular Systematics of Octocorals (Coelenterata: Anthozoa) of the Penghu Archipelago, Taiwan
    Zoological Studies 51(8): 1529-1548 (2012) Diversity, Distribution, and Molecular Systematics of Octocorals (Coelenterata: Anthozoa) of the Penghu Archipelago, Taiwan Yehuda Benayahu1,*, Leendert Pieter van Ofwegen2, Chang-feng Dai3, Ming-Shiou Jeng4, Keryea Soong5, Alex Shlagman1, Henryi J. Hsieh6, and Catherine S. McFadden7 1Department of Zoology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv Univ., Ramat Aviv 69978, Israel 2Naturalis Biodiversity Center, PO Box 9517, Leiden 2300 RA, the Netherlands 3Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan Univ., Taipei 106, Taiwan 4Research Center for Biodiversity, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei 115, Taiwan 5Institute of Marine Biology, National Sun Yat-sen Univ., Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan 6Penghu Marine Biology Research Center, Fisheries Research Institute, Penghu 880, Taiwan 7Department of Biology, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711-5990, USA (Accepted November 2, 2012) Yehuda Benayahu, Leendert Pieter van Ofwegen, Chang-feng Dai, Ming-Shiou Jeng, Keryea Soong, Alex Shlagman, Henryi J. Hsieh, and Catherine S. McFadden (2012) Diversity, distribution, and molecular systematics of octocorals (Coelenterata: Anthozoa) of the Penghu Archipelago, Taiwan. Zoological Studies 51(8): 1529-1548. The 1st ever surveys of octocorals in the Penghu Archipelago, Taiwan were conducted in 2006 and 2009. Scuba collections were carried out at 17 sites in northern, eastern, south-central, and southern parts of the archipelago. The collection, comprising about 250 specimens, yielded 34 species of the family Alcyoniidae belonging to Aldersladum, Cladiella, Klyxum, Lobophytum, Sarcophyton, and Sinularia. These include 6 new species that were recently described and another 15 records new to Taiwanese reefs. The northern collection sites featured a lower number of species compared to most of the central/southern or southern ones.
    [Show full text]
  • CNIDARIA Corals, Medusae, Hydroids, Myxozoans
    FOUR Phylum CNIDARIA corals, medusae, hydroids, myxozoans STEPHEN D. CAIRNS, LISA-ANN GERSHWIN, FRED J. BROOK, PHILIP PUGH, ELLIOT W. Dawson, OscaR OcaÑA V., WILLEM VERvooRT, GARY WILLIAMS, JEANETTE E. Watson, DENNIS M. OPREsko, PETER SCHUCHERT, P. MICHAEL HINE, DENNIS P. GORDON, HAMISH J. CAMPBELL, ANTHONY J. WRIGHT, JUAN A. SÁNCHEZ, DAPHNE G. FAUTIN his ancient phylum of mostly marine organisms is best known for its contribution to geomorphological features, forming thousands of square Tkilometres of coral reefs in warm tropical waters. Their fossil remains contribute to some limestones. Cnidarians are also significant components of the plankton, where large medusae – popularly called jellyfish – and colonial forms like Portuguese man-of-war and stringy siphonophores prey on other organisms including small fish. Some of these species are justly feared by humans for their stings, which in some cases can be fatal. Certainly, most New Zealanders will have encountered cnidarians when rambling along beaches and fossicking in rock pools where sea anemones and diminutive bushy hydroids abound. In New Zealand’s fiords and in deeper water on seamounts, black corals and branching gorgonians can form veritable trees five metres high or more. In contrast, inland inhabitants of continental landmasses who have never, or rarely, seen an ocean or visited a seashore can hardly be impressed with the Cnidaria as a phylum – freshwater cnidarians are relatively few, restricted to tiny hydras, the branching hydroid Cordylophora, and rare medusae. Worldwide, there are about 10,000 described species, with perhaps half as many again undescribed. All cnidarians have nettle cells known as nematocysts (or cnidae – from the Greek, knide, a nettle), extraordinarily complex structures that are effectively invaginated coiled tubes within a cell.
    [Show full text]
  • Cytotoxic and HIV-1 Enzyme Inhibitory Activities of Red Sea Marine Organisms Mona S Ellithey1, Namrita Lall2, Ahmed a Hussein3 and Debra Meyer1*
    Ellithey et al. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2014, 14:77 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/14/77 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Cytotoxic and HIV-1 enzyme inhibitory activities of Red Sea marine organisms Mona S Ellithey1, Namrita Lall2, Ahmed A Hussein3 and Debra Meyer1* Abstract Background: Cancer and HIV/AIDS are two of the greatest public health and humanitarian challenges facing the world today. Infection with HIV not only weakens the immune system leading to AIDS and increasing the risk of opportunistic infections, but also increases the risk of several types of cancer. The enormous biodiversity of marine habitats is mirrored by the molecular diversity of secondary metabolites found in marine animals, plants and microbes which is why this work was designed to assess the anti-HIV and cytotoxic activities of some marine organisms of the Red Sea. Methods: The lipophilic fractions of methanolic extracts of thirteen marine organisms collected from the Red Sea (Egypt) were screened for cytotoxicity against two human cancer cell lines; leukaemia (U937) and cervical cancer (HeLa) cells. African green monkey kidney cells (Vero) were used as normal non-malignant control cells. The extracts were also tested for their inhibitory activity against HIV-1 enzymes, reverse transcriptase (RT) and protease (PR). Results: Cytotoxicity results showed strong activity of the Cnidarian Litophyton arboreum against U-937 (IC50; 6.5 μg/ml ±2.3) with a selectivity index (SI) of 6.45, while the Cnidarian Sarcophyton trochliophorum showed strong activity against HeLa cells (IC50; 5.2 μg/ml ±1.2) with an SI of 2.09.
    [Show full text]
  • Deep-Sea Coral Taxa in the U.S. Northeast Region: Depth and Geographical Distribution (V
    Deep-Sea Coral Taxa in the U.S. Northeast Region: Depth and Geographical Distribution (v. 2020) by David B. Packer1, Martha S. Nizinski2, Stephen D. Cairns3, 4 and Thomas F. Hourigan 1. NOAA Habitat Ecology Branch, Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Sandy Hook, NJ 2. NOAA National Systematics Laboratory Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 3. National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 4. NOAA Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program, Office of Habitat Conservation, Silver Spring, MD This annex to the U.S. Northeast chapter in “The State of Deep-Sea Coral and Sponge Ecosystems of the United States” provides a revised and updated list of deep-sea coral taxa in the Phylum Cnidaria, Class Anthozoa, known to occur in U.S. waters from Maine to Cape Hatteras (Figure 1). Deep-sea corals are defined as azooxanthellate, heterotrophic coral species occurring in waters 50 meters deep or more. Details are provided on the vertical and geographic extent of each species (Table 1). This list is adapted from Packer et al. (2017) with the addition of new species and range extensions into Northeast U.S. waters reported through 2020, along with a number of species previously not included. No new species have been described from this region since 2017. Taxonomic names are generally those currently accepted in the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), and are arranged by order, then alphabetically by family, genus, and species. Data sources (references) listed are those principally used to establish geographic and depth distributions. The total number of distinct deep-sea corals documented for the U.S.
    [Show full text]