Scleronephthya pustulosa Wright & Studer, 1889

Lam, Katherine & Morton, Brian, 2008, Soft corals, sea fans, gorgonians (Octocorallia: Alcyonacea) and black and wire corals (Ceriantipatharia: Antipatharia) from submarine caves in Hong Kong with a checklist of local species and a description of a new species of Paraminabea, Journal of Natural History 42 (9 - 12), pp. 749-780 : 751-752

Scleronephthya pustulosa Wright & Studer, 1889

( Figure 1A )

Scleronephthya pustulosa Wright & Studer, 1889:229 , pl. XXXVIA, figs. 2a, 2c Scleronephthya pustulosa Thomson & Dean, 1931:180–181 ; Roxas 1933:407; Utinomi 1960:32, figs. 2–3; Li 1986:22, pl. IV, figs. 1–6, 15

Description

The orange, upright colony arises from a main stem with a slightly expanded base and from which short, irregular branches grow at acute angles. Both the main stem and branches divide into two or three secondary branches. The surfaces of the stem and branches are granular. Twig terminals are covered thickly by clusters of roundheaded polyps which project at right angles from their supports. The anthocodial armature consists of 8 points, each with 2–3 pairs of large bow sclerites en chevron. Tentacles and the whole surface of the polyps, stem and branches are covered with small sclerites between 0.08–1 mm in length and thus confer on them a granular appearance. Large straight or curved warty sclerites, 1.2 mm long, occur in the cortex and canal walls. Sclerites are colourless in water.

Type locality

Philippine Islands, 18 fathoms (, 36 m) .

Distribution

Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, The Philippines, Japan.

Remarks

Four specimens were collected from Conic Island Cave. Sizes were 60 mm × 20 mm, 50 mm × 50 mm and 60 mm × 50 mm (×2).

Figures

Figure 1. Living specimens of soft corals belonging to the Nephtheidae, Nidaliidae and Alcyoniidae. A, Scleronephthya pustulosa; B, Scleronephthya sp.; C, a dark red variety of Dendronephthya gigantea; D, a light pink variety of Dendronephthya gigantea; E, Nephthea chabrolii; F, Nephthyigorgia annectens; G, Paraminabea hongkongensis sp. nov. Scale bar52 cm.