Corresponding author: Odalisca Breedy (
Academic editor: L. van Ofwegen
The gorgoniid
California Academy of Science, California, USA
Museo de Zoología, Universidad de Costa Rica
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama
National Museum of Natural History, Washington, USA
The specimens used in this study belong to the octocoral collections of the above cited museums.
Preserved specimens were photographed for later detailed observation. Sclerites were obtained by dissolving tissues from branches with 3.5% sodium hypochlorite (household bleach). Sclerites were rinsed many times with distilled water then 100% ethanol, dried, and mounted on stubs for scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and coated with 60–80 nm Pt/Pd. They were observed and photographed using an Hitachi 3700 SEM operated at 15kV. For light microscopy, clean sclerites were mounted in water or glycerin and observed and photographed using an Olympus LX 51 inverted stereoscope.
We followed
Morphological characters of colonies and the most abundant sclerite types of the species examined here are presented in
Comparative features of the new species,
Species | Colony growth | Branching type | Max number. of branching | Pinna-like arr branchlets | Branchlet distance | Branchlet diameter | Branchlet length | Polyp distribution | Double disc | Capstans | Disc-spindle | Spindles | Bent spindles | Crosses | Anth. rods | Colour of colony | Bicolour colony | Coenenchymal sclerite colour | Colour rings |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
fla | irr-pi | 6 | X | 1.5–8 | 1–2.5 | 6–30 | irr | 0.04–0.07 | 0.07 | no | 0.11 | X | 0.06 × 0.06 | not found | do, r | r, y | y | ||
fla | irr-pi | 7 | X | 1–4 | 1–1.5 | 1–15 | irr | 0.065–0.08 | 0.07 | 0.13 | 0.13 | X | 0.075 × 0.065 | not found | r | r, y | |||
fla | irr-pi | 7 | X | 1–4 | 1–1.5 | 1–10 | reg | 0.07 | 0.07 | 0.13 | 0.13 | X | 0.06 × 0.06 | 0.08 mm | do, r | r, y | |||
spa | lb | 5 | X | 6–20 | 1.5–2 | 2–30 | reg | 0.06–0.07 | no | 0.10 | 0.10 | no | not found | p | p | ||||
bu | irr-pi | 10 | no | 1–15 | 1–1.5 | 2–30 | irr | 0.08–0.05 | 0.07 | 0.11 | 0.11 | 0.08 × 0.07 | not found | p,o | X | p,y | |||
fla | irr-pi | 7 | X | 1–4 | 1–2 | 1–10 | irr | 0.045–0.075 | no | 0.15 | 0.14 | no | not found | w | w | ||||
spa | irr-pi | 10 | no | 5–13 | 1–2.5 | 2–50 | irr | 0.07–0.06 | no | 0.14 | 0.14 | 0.08 × 0.06 | not found | w | w |
Colony growth: bu, bushy; fla, planar growth, flabelliform; spa, sparse growth.
Branching type: irr-pi, irregularly pinnate; lb, laterally branched.
Polyp distribution: irr, arrangement mostly in irregular longitudinal rows; reg, arrangement mostly in regular longitudinal rows.
Colors: dark orange (do), orange (o), pink (p), red (r), yellow (y), white (w).
X: character present.
Blank space: character absent or not found.
Baja California sur, México.
Ascending colony sparse growing, branching irregularly pinnate, and multiplanar, subdividing up to 11 times, some pseudo-anastomosis present. Prominent polyp-mounds up to 0.70 mm tall, dome-shaped, arranged irregularly, and closely placed on branchlets, and very distant on thick branches. Colony and sclerites white. Spindles and disc-spindles up to 0.14 mm in length, double discs up to 0.07 mm long, and 0.05 mm wide. Anthocodial rods absent.
Holotype 24 cm tall, and 20 cm wide, ascending, sparse growing, (
Paratype MCZ 36106 reaches up to 34 cm tall, and 31 cm wide, the main stem 0.7 mm diameter, slightly compressed, and short, about 1.0 cm long arising from an oval holdfast 3.2 cm diameter, and 0.2 cm thick (
The morphology of the colony, i.e., irregular-pinnate branching and prominent polyps, immediately segregates the new species from the
We found the paratype in the MCZ (36106), labelled in Elisabeth Deichmann’s handwriting (Ardis Johnston, pers. comm.) as a variety of
This new species of
Presently known from Piura, Perú and Baja California, but it is very likely that it exist along all along the geographic range. The depth range is 50–60 m, it is possible the range could extends deeper, but not as deep as reported for paratype USNM 56879, which is probably a mistake, as was remarked by F. M. Bayer (former USNM curator).
Puerto Jiménez, Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica, 11 m.
Broad, stout, flabellate colony, main branches sinuous, branching irregularly pinnate, subdividing 5–7 times, no anastomosis present. Prominent polyp-mounds closely spaced and irregularly distributed around branches and branchlets (
Holotype 30 cm tall, and 47 cm wide; colony broad, flabellate, very flexible. Branching irregularly pinnate. Main stem 6 mm diameter, laterally flattened, and short, 14 mm long. Holdfast oval, 40 mm diameter without polyps. Main stem subdividing in 5 sinuous main branches. Main branches slightly flattened on plane of colony, 3–4 mm in diameter emerging at angles of about 45°, bifurcating and diverging producing five flat pinnate fronds of long pinnate branchlets (
The specimens present some variation in sclerite color, white sclerites being dominant, but some pale yellow hues could be observed in the samples. In all other aspects they agree with the holotype, including the change of color from bright white alive or recently collected to grayish when fixed. It is interesting that after collection, the specimens discharge a black pigment that turns the water black or the alcohol, and the colony becomes gray. The specimens from Mexico represent the deeper record; they have been observed down to 50 m, meaning that the range of depth extends from 40 to 50 m as it is for
The species was mentioned before as a variety of
The new species is found on rocky substrates, in general with other species of gorgonians, including
The specific epithet is from Latin,
Records from Costa Rica, México and Panamá suggest a wide distribution, at least from Mexico to Panamá, but this has to be further explored. The deepest record in Panama is 35 m, in Costa Rica 25 m, and in Mexico 50 m. Thus, the occurrence of this species from 11 to 50 m deep also suggests a large bathymetric range of distribution.
There are not many morphological characters to differentiate species in octocorals, normally the combination of growth form, and size and color of colony and sclerites are the features used for identification. However, as it was acknowledged above, colony shape can vary within species in response to environmental conditions, light availability, wave exposure and currents (
Molecular studies have been taken to understand boundaries between species and interspecific or intraspecific phylogenetic relationships; however, a complete molecular phylogeny has not been achieved due to the lack of molecular markers with adequate resolution to distinguish species (or sometimes genera) (
Morphological phylogenetic studies in
Four groups of
Although,
The diagnostic characters of the
Presently, a total of 15 valid species are recorded for the eastern Pacific but this number should increase when more geographic areas and bathymetric ranges are explored. This research is a contribution to the knowledge of the eastern Pacific octocoral biodiversity.
We are grateful to anonymous reviewers for critical improvements of the manuscript. We thank Adam Baldinger (MCZ) and Stephen Cairns (USNM) for specimen loans, and Ardis Johnston (former collection manager MCZ) for providing information about the MCZ collection, and Rita Vargas (UCR), and Carlos Guevara (STRI) for laboratory and field work. We thank Rosalinda Abeytia for collecting paratype STRI 1122, and Celeste Sánchez for providing the submarine pictures in
This project was partially funded by the Vicerrectoría de Investigación, Universidad de Costa Rica, and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Specimens from Costa Rica were collected under the MINAE 0890 permit, and from Panama under the permits: DAPVS-02-2007, DAPVS-01-2008, SE/A-71-12, SE/A-16-13 of the Panama Environmental Authority.