Eugorgia rubens Verrill, 1868

Breedy, Odalisca, Guzman, Hector M. & Vargas, Sergio, 2009, A revision of the genus Eugorgia Verrill, 1868 (Coelenterata: Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae), Zootaxa 2151, pp. 1-46 : 29-37

Eugorgia rubens Verrill, 1868

Figure 15 , Plate 11A–D

Eugorgia rubens Verrill, 1868: 411 ; Studer 1894: 69; Bielschowsky 1918: 45; 1929: 183; Kükenthal 1924: 346; Harden 1979: 128 –129.

Material examined. Holotype: YPM 1779, dry fragment, Piura, Peru, no depth given, F.M. Bradley from G. Petrie, 1866–1867; MCZ 36047 (slide of the holotype).

Other material: COSTA RICA: UCR 1745, dry fragment, Islas Murciélago, Santa Elena Bay, 30 m, C. Jimenez, October 1997. MEXICO: STRI 1120, dry, Salche, fishing net, 40–70 m, R. Abeytia, 13 June 2008. USA: CASIZ 96606, ethanol preserved, Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands, California, dredge, 15 March 1950; Cathy, dry, Point Lobos, Carmel, Monterey, California, 64 m, collected by a sport diver and given to L. Austin, August 2007; USNM 50180, dry, La Jolla Canyon, dredge 46–52 m, C. Limbaugh, 8 October 1955.

Description. The holotype consists of a dry small fragment, 7.5 cm in height, and 3.5 cm in width, almost devoid of sclerites (Plate 11A–B). Other examined specimens reach up 40 cm in height and 30 cm in width, they are mostly fragments and holdfasts are missing. Branches are slightly flattened in cross section, up to 2 mm in diameter, branchlets more rounded. Branching is irregularly pinnate; the branchlets are sparsely placed, separated by 0.5–2 cm, and are 1–1.5 mm in diameter and up to 4 cm long. They rebranch giving off secondary branchlets. Unbranched terminal twigs are blunt, and reach up to 5 cm in length. Polyp-mounds are prominent arranged in a single row along each edge of the branchlets, and distributed more irregularly along the thick branches (Plate 11B). Colonies are pink. Sclerites of the coenenchyme are pink and pale hues (Plate 11C). They are mostly double discs reaching up to 0.07 mm in length, and 0.05 mm in width ( Fig. 15 ). Spindles reach up to 0.10 mm in length, and 0.05 mm in width, with 3–5 whorls of warty tubercles ( Fig. 15 ). No anthocodial sclerites were found in the samples.

The illustrated specimen is a 20 cm fragment from Santa Cruz Island (CASIZ 96606) that matches the characteristics of this taxon (Plate 11D).

Distribution. Paita (Verrill 1868), type locality; Santa Cruz Island, Point Lobos, Monterey, California, Murciélago Islands, Puerto Angel, Oaxaca ( Table 4).

Remarks. Verrill (1868) described this species from a specimen 60–90 cm across without illustration. What remains of the large specimen is the small fragment (YPM 1779) that agrees with the collection data given by Verrill, as well as the MCZ slide that apparently came from the same specimen, for this reason we consider it the holotype. This species is similar to E. aurantiaca , E. daniana , and E. multifida in the branching pattern, but differs from them in many other aspects, especially in the polyp distribution, and in the sclerites (Table 1).

PLATE 1. Eugorgia ampla (MCZ 193): A, colony; B, detail of branches; C, light micrograph coenenchymal sclerites.

PLATE 2. Eugorgia aurantiaca : A, fragment of the lectotype and detail of the branch; B, complete colony (MCZ 61014); C, detail of branches and complete colony (USNM 1016591); D, light micrograph coenenchymal sclerites (YPM 2269).

PLATE 3. Eugorgia bradleyi (MCZ 7006B1): A, colony; B, detail of branches; C, light micrograph coenenchymal sclerites.

PLATE 4. Eugorgia daniana (MCZ 7080): A, colony; B, detail of branches; C, light micrograph coenenchymal sclerites; D, living colonies, red variety (right), and typical (left), 29 m deep, Isla Genovesa, Islas Galapagos, Ecuador (photograph: Angel Chiriboga).

PLATE 5. Eugorgia excelsa (MCZ 36316): A, colony; B, detail of branches; C, light micrograph coenenchymal sclerites.

PLATE 6. Eugorgia multifida (YPM 4605): A, complete colony; B, detail of branches; C, light micrograph coenenchymal sclerites; D, anthocodial sclerites (CASIZ 103207).

Figures

FIGURE 15. Eugorgia rubens (YPM 1779), coenenchymal sclerites.