Leptoseris sp. indet.

Fassbender, Nico, Stefanoudis, Paris V, Filander, Zoleka Nontlantla, Gendron, Gilberte, Mah, Christopher L, Mattio, Lydiane, Mortimer, Jeanne A, Moura, Carlos J, Samaai, Toufiek, Samimi-Namin, Kaveh, Wagner, Daniel, Walton, Rowana & Woodall, Lucy C, 2021, Reef benthos of Seychelles - A field guide, Biodiversity Data Journal 9, pp. 65970-65970 : 65970

Leptoseris sp. indet.

Materials

Type status: Other material. Taxon: scientificName: Leptoseris; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Cnidaria; class: Anthozoa; order: Scleractinia; family: Agariciidae; genus: Leptoseris; scientificNameAuthorship: Milne Edwards & Haine, 1849; Location: waterBody: Indian Ocean; country: Seychelles; locality: Aldabra N 1, Aldabra W 1, Alphonse N 1, Astove W 1, D'Arros N 1, Desroches S 1, Poivre E 1 ; minimumDepthInMeters: 8.8 m; maximumDepthInMeters: 71.5 m; locationRemarks: First Descent : Seychelles Expedition ; Identification : identifiedBy: Gilberte Gendron , Nico Fassbender , Paris Stefanoudis , Rowana Walton ; dateIdentified: 2019, 2020; identificationRemarks: identified only from imagery; Event : samplingProtocol: Submersible OR Remotely Operated Vehicle OR SCUBA; Record Level: basisOfRecord: Human observation

Notes

Colonies typically small (~ 20 cm in the longest dimension), although some were up to 90 cm, encrusting or plating, unifacial and contorted. Polyps usually without distinct walls and larger than 5 mm in diameter. Growth form tends to change with depth: deeper colonies found in mesophotic depths are often laminar with a white edge. Widely spaced corallites that may be inclined to the margin, that can cluster within pockets (raised rounded walls). Appearance is wavy, granulated or waxy; deeper plating forms with small bumps on the colony surface. Colour ranges from pale to lighter shades of yellow-brown. Pavona looks similar, but is mostly bifacial with a rougher appearance; can be confused with plating colonies of Pachyseris , but the latter has clearly defined parallel ridges, lacks bumps at the surface and tends to form metre-long colonies. However, small plating colonies at depth might be difficult to separate if seen from a distance. For Pachyseris colonies, the corallite walls always run to the edge of the colony; however, in Leptoseris , these walls do not always run to the edge and are not uniform (Fig. 79).