[Coral-List] Identity of blue octocoral off NC??
Michael Janes
mpjanes at aquatouch.com
Tue Feb 20 22:07:30 UTC 2007
Dear Joe,
Charles Fasano mentioned that a very prolific Hawaiian octocoral may be the
species you have in North Carolina. I would suggest just based on the
photographs taken by Marc that Sarcothelia edmondsoni (now Sansibia
edmondsoni (Alderslade, 2000)), and other Sansibia species be ruled out. I
have not seen the Hawaiian species enter the aquarium trade, it is illegal
to collect there, and ships very badly. Other Sansibia species are present
in the aquarium trade but there are a few attributes to this genus that are
not apparent in the photos you posted. Sansibia is a photosynthetic genus of
the family Xeniidae. The blue pigment seen in colonies is a result of
reflected light from the many sclerites in the tentacles and pinnules. Your
photos suggest an azooxanthellate species with translucent tissue that
appears to have blue pigment. The specimen in your photos does not seem to
have much rigidity in the polyps which may be due in part to a lack of
sclerites, hard to tell from the photographs.
You certainly have an interesting specimen and one that I have not seen from
the Atlantic. It may still be an introduced species as Charles suggested. To
help with the taxonomy of this octocoral you may want to fix a sample of the
tissue and isolate some of the sclerites or skeletal elements. Sclerite
sample photos can be posted on the Octocoral Resource Network forum at
www.octocoralresearch.com where many octocoral taxonomist converse.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Michael.
Michael P. Janes
President & Senior Aquarist
AquaTouch
12040 North 32nd Street
Phoenix, Arizona 85028
USA
(602) 765-9058 Phone
(602) 765-9044 Fax
web: www.aquatouch.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Pawlik, Joseph" <pawlikj at uncw.edu>
To: <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2007 10:22 AM
Subject: [Coral-List] Identity of blue octocoral off NC??
>
> Coral-listers,
>
> Can anyone help with identifying this light-blue recumbent octocoral
> from the offshore reefs of North Carolina? The request and photos are
> from Marc Neill with the North Carolina Aquarium at Ft. Fisher. Here
> are the photos:
>
> http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o93/FishBait_photos/PC272938mod1.jpg
>
> http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o93/FishBait_photos/PC272931mod1.jpg
>
> http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o93/FishBait_photos/PC272930mod1.jpg
>
>
> Thanks for the help!
>
> Joe
> **************************************************************
> Joseph R. Pawlik, Professor
> UNCW Center for Marine Science
> 5600 Marvin K Moss Lane
> Wilmington, NC 28409 USA
> pawlikj at uncw.edu; Office:(910)962-2377; Cell:(910)232-3579
> Website: http://people.uncw.edu/pawlikj/index.html
> PDFs: http://people.uncw.edu/pawlikj/pubs2.html
> **************************************************************
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