Menella indica Gray, 1870

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 : 761

Menella indica Gray, 1870

( Figure 3E )

Menella indica Gray, 1870:407

Menella indica Nutting, 1912:86 ; Kükenthal, 1924:184; Utinomi, 1958:105, 1961:211–213

Description

Long, slender, yellowish brown colony with branches which arise from the main stem at right angles and grow upwards. Branches bluntly pointed at the ends. Axis black and wholly horny. Polyps irregularly distributed on all sides of the branch and stem surface and deeply sunk into verrucal cavities. Sclerites in coenenchyme are dagger-shaped, that is, they consist of a short smooth blade and a few thorny basal processes. These polyps are, 0.4× 0.5 mm. Anthocodial sclerites are shorter,, 0.4 mm, curved spindles with random spikes on their surfaces. Axis thin and brown.

Type locality

Back Bay , Bombay , east coast of India.

Distribution

Indian Ocean, Japan, Hong Kong.

Remarks

One specimen (190 mm × 80 mm) was collected from Conic Island Cave. This species is a new record for Hong Kong.

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.