Acanthogorgia vegae Aurivillius, 1931

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 : 758

Acanthogorgia vegae Aurivillius, 1931

( Figure 3A )

Acanthogorgia vegae Aurivillius, 1931:80 , pl. 2, fig. 2, text-fig. 2–3

Acanthogorgia vegae Zou & Scott, 1982:142 , pl. 1A, 6A–D

Description

The yellow colony arises from a large, lobate basal disk and has a few, thick branches set in one plane and at wide angles. Polyps large, cylindrical and project perpendicularly. Size53– 5 mm × 1.5 mm. Sclerites at polyp base are large,, 1.3× 0.1 mm, and either plain or s-shaped. Crown sclerites smaller,, 0.6 mm, arranged en chevron. Tentacle sclerites, 0.3 mm. Stem sclerites are fusiform and, 1× 0.1 mm long. The axis is thick and brown.

Type locality

Yedo Bay , Japan, 65 fathoms (, 130 m), clay bottom .

Distribution

Japan, Hong Kong and the continental coast of Guangdong Province, China.

Remarks

One specimen (120 mm × 70 mm) was collected from Conic Island Cave.

Figures

Figure 3. Living specimens of octocorals belonging to the Acanthogorgiidae and Plexauridae. A, Acanthogorgia vegae; B, Anthogorgia divaricata; C, Muricella sp.; D, Astrogorgia sinensis and E, Menella indica. Scale bar52 cm.