Plazi
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The living colonies of the soft coral Sympodium caeruleum exhibit a membranous morphology with extended polyps whose color has a bluish or slightly grayish-white tint.
The syntypes consist of several small encrusting membranous colonies firmly attached to an irregular limestone fragment measuring about 10 x 6 cm.
The largest colony is 2.5 x 2 cm, the others are smaller, about 1 cm x 2 cm.
Certain parts of the colonies extend into small crevices of the fragment. The membrane overgrowing the substrate is 1 - 1.5 mm thick.
Some of the polyps are fully retracted, while others are partially extended.
The polyp body is up to 10 mm long and the tentacles are up to 5 mm long.
The leaflets are arranged in 3 rows, with 5-8 leaflets in the outermost row.
They are short, about 1 mm long and 0.5 mm wide, with almost no spacing between adjacent leaflets.
Remarks:
The morphology of all other Sympodium caeruleum colonies collected from the Red Sea (Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia) is consistent with the syntypes, but they may differ in the size and density of the polyps emerging from the spreading membrane.
Based on the current findings, this species is believed to be the only representative of the genus in the Red Sea.
Source:
Benayahu, Yehuda, Ekins, Merrick & Mcfadden, Catherine S., 2021,
Overview of the genus Sympodium Ehrenberg, 1834 (Octocorallia, Alcyonacea, Xeniidae), with the description of new species, revealing regional endemism,
pp. 324-350 in Zootaxa 5072 (4) on pages 332-334, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5072.4.2, http://zenodo.org/record/5748862
open access
The syntypes consist of several small encrusting membranous colonies firmly attached to an irregular limestone fragment measuring about 10 x 6 cm.
The largest colony is 2.5 x 2 cm, the others are smaller, about 1 cm x 2 cm.
Certain parts of the colonies extend into small crevices of the fragment. The membrane overgrowing the substrate is 1 - 1.5 mm thick.
Some of the polyps are fully retracted, while others are partially extended.
The polyp body is up to 10 mm long and the tentacles are up to 5 mm long.
The leaflets are arranged in 3 rows, with 5-8 leaflets in the outermost row.
They are short, about 1 mm long and 0.5 mm wide, with almost no spacing between adjacent leaflets.
Remarks:
The morphology of all other Sympodium caeruleum colonies collected from the Red Sea (Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia) is consistent with the syntypes, but they may differ in the size and density of the polyps emerging from the spreading membrane.
Based on the current findings, this species is believed to be the only representative of the genus in the Red Sea.
Source:
Benayahu, Yehuda, Ekins, Merrick & Mcfadden, Catherine S., 2021,
Overview of the genus Sympodium Ehrenberg, 1834 (Octocorallia, Alcyonacea, Xeniidae), with the description of new species, revealing regional endemism,
pp. 324-350 in Zootaxa 5072 (4) on pages 332-334, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5072.4.2, http://zenodo.org/record/5748862
open access
