A revision of the genus Eugorgia Verrill, 1868 (Coelenterata: Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae)
Author
Breedy, Odalisca
Author
Guzman, Hector M.
Author
Vargas, Sergio
text
Zootaxa
2009
2151
1
46
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.188707
bf88cf54-38da-4ec6-a560-6c1ea86bf792
1175-5326
188707
Eugorgia daniana
Verrill, 1868
Figure 8
, Plate 4A–D
Eugorgia daniana
Verrill, 1868: 409
–410;
Bielschowsky 1918
: 45
; 1929: 181;
Kükenthal 1924
: 346
;
Stiasny 1951
: 65
;
Harden 1979
: 123
–125;
Prahl et al. 1986
: 17
.
Material examined.
Syntype
series:
MCZ
723, dry, Pearl Islands,
11–15 m
, F.H. Bradley,
1866-67
;
MCZ
7080, dry, Gulf of Nicoya,
Costa Rica
, J.A. McNeil, no further data;
YPM
1551a–d; 1629, 1629a–b, dry, Pearl Islands;
11–15 m
, F.H. Bradley,
1866-67
;
YPM
5146, dry fragment, Gulf of Nicoya, J.A. McNeil, no further data.
Other material
:
COSTA RICA
: UCR 1743, dry, Chora Island, Samara Bay,
18–19 m
, O. Breedy,
29 March 1998
; UCR 1744, dry, Ballena Island, Ballena Marine National Park,
26 m
, O. Breedy,
27 April 2002
;
USNM
49387, dry,
Isla
San Lucas, Gulf of Nicoya, no depth given, M. Valerio,
15 January 1930
.
PANAMA
:
STRI
208 (UCR 1288), dry, Jicarita, Chiriqui Gulf,
10–30 m
, H.M. Guzman,
19 April 2002
;
STRI
407, dry,
Isla
Seca Grande, Chiriqui Gulf,
20 m
, H.M. Guzman & O. Breedy,
26 August 2002
;
STRI
408, dry,
Isla
Seca Grande, Chiriqui Gulf,
20 m
, H.M. Guzman,
26 August 2002
;
STRI
440, dry, Jicarita,
10–25 m
, H.M. Guzman & O. Breedy,
29 August 2002
;
STRI
444, dry, Jicarita Island, Chiriqui Gulf,
10–25 m
, H.M.
FIGURE 7.
Eugorgia bradleyi
(MCZ 7006B1), coenenchymal sclerites.
Guzman,
29 August 2002
;
STRI
460, dry, Bajo Foul, Peninsula de Azuero,
5–20 m
, H.M. Guzman,
11 April 2003
;
STRI
511, dry, Ladrones Island, Chiriqui Gulf,
3–15 m
, H.M. Guzman,
14 April 2003
;
STRI
551, preserved,
Isla
Bolanito, Chiriqui Gulf,
6 m
, H.M. Guzman,
16 April 2003
;
STRI
871, dry, Achotines, Chiriqui Gulf,
3–10 m
, H.M. Guzman,
5 May 2004
;
STRI
978, dry, Roca Niagara, Pearl Islands,
3–20 m
, H.M. Guzman,
23 September 2004
;
STRI
984, dry, Bajo Poligono 51, Pearl Islands,
12 m
, H.M. Guzman,
15 June 2006
;
STRI
987, dry, Pacheca, Pearl Islands,
11 m
, H.E. Guzman,
11 June 2006
;
STRI
997, dry, NW Pedro Gonzalez Island, Pearl Islands,
5–10 m
, H.M. Guzman,
5 June 2006
;
STRI
1010, dry, Piedra Hacha, Chiriqui Gulf, H.M. Guzman,
11 October 2006
; UCR 1325 (
STRI
245), dry, Islote, Chiriqui Gulf,
25 m
, H.M. Guzman,
20 April 2002
;
USNM
34058, dry, Gulf of
Panama
, no further data;
USNM
49367, dry, Gulf of
Panama
, no depth given, P.S. Galtsoff, 1948.
PERU
:
USNM
49347, dry, Piura, Cabo Blanco, no depth given, M. Lobell,
12 May 1941
.
ECUADOR
:
CDRS
05-197, 05-198, Darwin Bay,
Isla
Genovesa, Islas Galápagos,
25–29 m
, A. Chiriboga,
25 March 2005
;
USNM
59084, 59084, ethanol preserved, Gulf of Guayaquil,
20 m
, Anton Brunn R/V,
11 September 1966
.
MEXICO
:
CASIZ
73822, ethanol preserved,
Isla
Danzante, Baja California Sur,
6–21 m
, G.C. Williams,
21 July 1990
; M564, dry, Islas Gringas, Guaymas,
10–15 m
, J.L. Carballo,
27 November 2002
; Geof2, dry, Baja California Sur,
8–15 m
, G. Shester,
July 2006
;
MNHN
Oct.000-0553, dry, Acapulco, no depth given, A. Agassiz, 1889;
STRI
1123, dry, Salche, Puerto Angel, Oaxaca, fishing net,
40–70 m
, R. Abeytia,
13 June 2008
;
USNM
52484, dry, Tortolo Bay, Turtle Bay, Baja California,
6 m
, Turner,
14 March 1961
.
USA
:
USNM
57302, ethanol preserved, Escondida Bay, San Diego, California, no collector,
14 November 1968
.
FIGURE 8.
Eugorgia daniana
(MCZ 7080), coenenchymal sclerites.
Description.
The examined specimens reach up to
25 cm
in height and
36 cm
in width. Colonies grow in multiple planes, profusely branched. They are flabelliform, broad, and branched pinnately. Main stems are
2–4 mm
in diameter, compressed, and very short (up to
1 cm
long) or absent, so the branches emerge directly from the holdfasts. Main branches are compressed and divergent, about
1.5 mm
in diameter, and the pinnae are around 1.0 mm in diameter, irregularly arranged and closely spaced (Plate 4A). Several of the pinnae rebranch giving off secondary pinnae. Unbranched terminal twigs are blunt, and reach up to
1.5 cm
in length. Polyps are colourless, distributed in irregular lateral bands along the branches and do not crowd the surface. Polyp-mounds are prominent with small bilabiate apertures and sometimes yellow spots (Plate 4B). Colonies are bright red uniformly or streaked with bright yellow on the branches or on the polyp-mounds (Plate 4C). They keep the same colour regardless being alive, stored dry, or preserved in alcohol (Plate 4A, D). Some of the main branches have numerous yellow, thin longitudinal grooves that are more evident on dry specimens. Sclerites of the coenenchyme are red and yellow. They are mostly double discs reaching up to
0.08 mm
in length, and
0.06 mm
in width (Plate 4C,
Fig. 8
). Spindles and disc-spindles are abundant, reaching up to
0.13 mm
in length and
0.05 mm
in width, with 4–6 whorls of warty tubercles (Plate 4C,
Fig. 8
). Crosses are up to 0.075 by
0.065 mm
. No anthocodial sclerites were obtained in the samples for study.
Distribution.
Pearl Islands, Gulf of Nicoya, Corinto,
El Salvador
(
Verrill 1868a
),
Isla
Gorgona (
Prahl
et al.
1986
), and other localities (see
Table 4
).
Remarks.
The specimens in the
syntype
series are very consistent in all characteristics, they agree in most all aspects with the illustrated specimen (MCZ 7080). A variation in colour can be found in some specimens, as in CDRS 05-197, where the colony is bright red and a few sclerites are yellow (Plate 4D). A white variety has been observed in shoals in
Costa Rica
and
Mexico
occurring together with the red form.