Eugorgia rubens Verrill, 1868

Horvath, Elizabeth Anne, 2019, A review of gorgonian coral species (Cnidaria, Octocorallia, Alcyonacea) held in the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History research collection: focus on species from Scleraxonia, Holaxonia, Calcaxonia - Part II: Species of Holaxonia, families Gorgoniidae and Plexauridae, ZooKeys 860, pp. 67-182 : 67

Eugorgia rubens Verrill, 1868 Figures 8, 9, 10 A–D

Eugorgia rubens Verrill, 1868b [1869]: 411 [not figured]. Studer 1894: 69. Bielschowsky 1918: 45. Kükenthal 1924: 346. Bielschowsky 1929: 183. Breedy et al. 2009: 29-31.

Type locality.

SE Pacific Ocean, South America, Peru, Piura Dept., Paita. The type locality is often incorrectly spelled as Payta.

Type specimens.

Type–YPM 1779 [dry]; MCZ 36047 (slide of holotype).

Material examined.

~ 50 lots (see Appendix 1: List of material examined). Was unable to examine the type specimen, but examined many others at NMNH, CAS, etc.; this is easily recognizable and comparison to type was not necessary.

Description.

In general, all SBMNH material (along with supplemental lots) examined falls in line with the description and images provided for this species by Breedy et al. (2009: 5-7, 29, 31, 42). Whole colony (Figure 8), branch pattern (Figure 9), and basic sclerite forms (Figure 10) demonstrate the identifiable characteristics for the species.

Etymology.

Rube- is the Latin for red, or reddish, presumably in reference to this species’ color. However, there is no explanation for species name given by Verrill.

Common name.

Purple gorgonian ( Gotshall 1994); Purple sea fan; Reddish true gorgon. Common name not specified in Cairns et al. (1991; 2003).

Distribution.

From southeastern Pacific Ocean (type locality: Peru [Paita]), to southern and central California (Santa Barbara mainland and Channel Islands). Depth range from shallow subtidal to deeper than 100 meters. An extensive number of specimens were examined; collection location data shows geographic and depth ranges.

Biology.

Found at depths usually greater than 10-30 m. Work by Lissner and Dorsey (1986) showed a range of depth for this species along Tanner and Cortes Banks and the Santa Rosa-Cortes Ridge off of southern California as follows: At depths <49 meters, the species was sparse, at depths ranging from 49-79 meters, the species was very abundant to abundant, from 79-91 meters the species was commonly seen, and at depths below 91 meters was again sparse. In e-mail correspondence with C Bauder (and subsequently T Laidig at NOAA, December 2010), this species may actually occur at depths greater than originally thought, extending much further north than previously reported (the specimen that called attention to this greater depth was photographed by C Bauder at Point Lobos, Carmel Bay, at 66.5 m). A thorough examination of specimens taken from these greater depths at this, and other more northerly locations, should be done. From a list found in Museum records, depth ranges for this species from selected California sites (south to north) are as follows: Mainland: Tijuana River: 36 m; Point Loma: 21-42 m; La Jolla: 20-64 m; San Pedro: 17-33 m; Carpinteria: 36 m; Islands and Seamounts: Coronados Islands: 39 m; San Clemente Island: 9-20 m; also common around the San Benito Islands off Baja, California.

Several dry specimens examined showed the presence of distinct galls produced by a species of acorn barnacle, projecting out through the coenenchyme. One of the wet specimens examined had a pronounced mass of red algae, with sponge, hydroids, worm tubes, etc. On another wet specimen, white scaly-looking patches were present, one patch so dense it looked like a cushion. On both of these wet specimens, the masses of growth were generally only present on areas of the colony where the axis was fully exposed. There is also evidence of the presence of ovulid snails from the Genus Simnia (Neosimnia) Risso, 1826 (species S. barbarensis Dall, 1892 and S. loebbekiana Weinkauff, 1881) as well as Simnialena rufa (Sowerby III, 1832) in the branches of both California (Santa Barbara, East Beach, Slate Reefs, 24-27 m; 1 April 1967 and off Newport Beach, 6 m; 18 Dec. 1964) and Mexican-collected specimens (from Sonora, Guaymas, Miramar Cove, 0.9-2 m; October, 1965; however, latter of questionable species identification).

Remarks.

Type specimen donated to YPM by FH Bradley who originally received it from Mrs George Petrie. Not recorded in early monographs on the alcyonarian fauna of California ( Nutting 1909; Kükenthal 1913). While I was unable to examine the type specimen, all specimens in the SBMNH research collection are readily identifiable as this species. In truth, many of the specimens in the SBMNH collection are excellent examples of this species; examination of the type was not necessary.

NMNH has several catalogued lots in their collection with location records from the Santa Barbara Channel and the California Channel Islands (many of these identified to genus only); also several lots identified to species, collected in the area of La Jolla: Scripps Canyon, La Jolla Canyon, as well as the southern part of California and Del Mar. In addition, NMNH has several lots collected by C Limbaugh. Several of these are from the La Jolla area, but as well, from a couple of locations not previously recorded, including the Richfield Oil Island, Redondo Beach, and Rocky Point, in close proximity to Point Vicente, at the south end of Santa Monica Bay. In addition, the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, in San Pedro, California has a few dry specimens of this species in its museum, and as well, displayed live specimens in tanks on exhibit to the public; generally, all were collected from the local area. This is a very common species in Southern California waters and is an accepted species in the WoRMS Data Base ( Cordeiro et al. 2018b).