Higginsia coralloides Higgin, 1877

Fig. 10

Diagnostic features.

Bushy with several digitate branches diverging from a thicker peduncle. Vermillion red alive. The surface is composed of irregular tubercules, corrugations, or conules with projecting spicules that trap sediment; similar to a cauliflower surface, with interstitial areas where inconspicuous ostia and oscula can be found. Consistency is spongy but firm.

Similar species.

Younger specimens of Ptilocaulis marquezi (with oxeas and styles) and Ptilocaulis walpersii (with styles) might be confused with Higginsia coralloides (with acanthose micro-oxeas added to large oxeas and styles).

Distribution and abundance.

Shallow coral reef and hard substrate at Guyana Shelf, Grenada, Bahamas, Florida, Nicaragua, Yucatan, North Carolina, possibly Brazil (van Soest 2017). Mesophotic depths at Brazil, Guyana, Eastern Antilles, Florida, and Bahamas, and northwestern GOM at FGBNMS. At FGBNMS it is rare to low (1-10) in abundance at six sites.

Ecology.

Lower mesophotic reefs, heavily silted reefs, coralline algae reefs.

Identification.

KR, SK, CA, MCD.

Reference.

Wiedenmayer 1977.