A REVIEW OF GERARDIIDAE (ANTHOZOA: ZOANTHARIA ... - redmic

column wall; the endoderm associated to them can reach to 120 J.lm thick. W,
observed unilobulated filaments. All the macrocnemes bear gonads in the s e Only
ied (Fig. 4c). pec1rnen
Cnidom: A complete survey of the cnidom (measurements catego'
. . . , ' nes a d
ment) of the matenal from the two Medlterranean 10calItIes studied is in Tabl n pl
Fig, 3), We noticed one category of spirocysts and several categories of the e
II
(see
. h . f 11' , oth cysts eqUlpment: t ree categones o e Iptlcal, so me of them ovoid
el'
.
ne
mastigophores); one category is the special spirulae only present in some g~Osplrulae
th'd I S as the present genus. T'wo pemcI '11' I ( p-mastlgophores) . categories: one cate ups of
tlca
. l
to some OVOI
'd'
pemcI
'11'A d . gorYofel
1 an one category of ellIptical big penicilli E es .
mon In
'h
t especia
' 1
areas o
f
t
h
e en
d
oderm of the wall (see description above),
peclally Co
Table n. Gerardia savaglia. Survey of the cnidom of Iwo colonies from different Mediterranean I .
Ceuta (North Africa) (Priv. Col.). B: Banyuls (France) (ZMUNI n/n) ocahu
Colurnn A
A
B
A
A
B
Tentacles A
B
A
A
B
B
A
B
A
Pharynx A
B
A
Filarnents A
Ecology
B
Nernatocyst
type
Spirulae (e)
S irulae (d)
S irulae (e)
Penieilli A (b)
Penieilli E (a)
Penieilli E (a)
S iroe sts (e)
S iroe sts (e)
S irulae (h)
S irulae ( )
S irulae (h)
S irulae (o)
Penieilli A (f)
Penieilli A (f)
Penieilli E
.)
Penieilli A (k)
Penieilli A (k)
Mean and range (in parentheses)
of length and with of N
nernatocyst capsules in 11
15,6 (13-20) x 12,4 (10-15)
16 x 2
13,1 (9-16) x 10,6 (9-12)
16,5 (13-20) x 4 (3-5)
18,5 (14-21) x 9,3 (8-11)
18,2 (16-20) x 9,1 (8,5-10)
20 (15-25) x 2,8 (2-3,5)
20 (15-25) x 2,8 (2-3,5)
18 (16-20) x 3 (2,5-4)
22 (20-27) x 4,8 (4-5,5)
17,8 (16-23) x 3,3 (2,8-4)
24,4 (22-27) x 4,5 (4-5)
19,2 (15-23) x 4,4 (4-5)
18 x 4
26 x 10
16,6 (13-20) x 3,2 (2,5-4)
14,2 (12-16) x 4,3 (3,5-5)
17 (15-19) x 4,8 (4-5,5)
l3,6 (12-15) x 4,5 (3,5-5)
14,2 (12-16) x 4,3 (3,5-5)
5 Uneommon
1 Rare
10 Uneommon
51
20
2 Rare
2
2
28
4 Uneommon
23
12
II Uncommon
1 Rare
1 Rare
37 Rather-co
11 Rather-com
2 Rare
14 Common 13 Comm on
G. savaglia is a typical species from circalittoral bottoms (see ZIBROWI.U~~:,9
, , d to PO/OII
[33]; GIL! et al., 1987 [9]; CALVIN, 1995 [3]) frequently found aSSOCIate . ¡"on WI
clavata, In the Strait of Gibraltar area the species commonly occurs in asSOC1aI
_ rsonal observation). Although other species of gorgonians has been
O
Ocana, pe .
'(l (. .' to the zoanthids (see ROCHE et TIXIER-DURIVAULT, 1951[28]),
. asS'lctatlOn "k 1 (F' 10)' h' b 1
10 ' ' olonies growing wlth ItS own s e eton Ig. , In t IS case a asa
1, 'cd sOme c . .) h l' . .
no Il . del' to erect the colony (see dIagnosIs; ot el' co omes growIng on ItS
'['Itcd In 01' ,
gent: ' ecorded in the literature (ROSSI, 1958 [29]). In the case the specles
I
n has been l' " "
10 / t l't is noticed some expanslOn of the zoanthlds, USIng ItS own skele-
P e al'a a, , .
Ing on , . (. h ppen al so with G. macaronesica) only generate ItS skeleton In so me
G rtw/w,¡s a "'1 h
a" . nian do not offer the appropnate support; a Slml al' p enomenon was
h
. thc gOlgo ,
ert: , '1 by ROCHE et TIXIER-DURIVAULT (1951 [28]: 405). We always fInd
d prcVIOUSY ., ,
, h'lbitats with high blOdlverslty patterns and constant water movement,
In some , ,
I .' t be toa strong' locally G, savaglia colomes have been always observed
h II can no '
g 'Ians "forest" 01' very close to those. The common occurrence of G. savaglia
the gorgon .
. P clavata it seems to be, accordmg to ROCHE et TIXIER-DURIVAULT
gorgol1lan ' "
I 1281l, a similar parasitic phenomenon also observed In G. macaroneSlca on
tharian species, .
pa G. s(Jl'lIg/ia is a planctonic captor, able to prey on several specles of copepods as we
d resl 01'these (partially digested) inside the coelenteron as a gut contento We find also
d apod Ba/ssia gasti in association with one of the colony (for more information about
ZIBROWIUS, 1985 [33]).
sexual reproduction has been noticed by budding in several polyps following a simpallems
find in G. macaronesica. We find gonads development in the specimens studn
May and August, but specimens analyzed on January do not present any gonads what
n islenl with the Mediterranean environmental conditions.
G. sal'ag/ia it seems to be a species rather known in the western Mediterranean
talonian coast, Baleares, Algerian coast, Naples and Geneva Gulfs and the Strait of
braltar) including the Adriatic Sea and apparently less common in the Levantin basin
re has hcen exclusively recorded from Aegean Sea,
Gerardia mac " .
rn the M, .aroneslca IS consldered here as a endemic element, exclusively known
acaroneslan t Th' ,
hlpelag(). . wa ers. e presence of thls taxon along the whole Macaroneslan
s and the c' .
thids is h oexlstence wlth the endemic antipatharians, where frequently the
Olhcr cOsted,.support the later hypothesis.
anog y Ocañ~d~~lc Macaronesian anthozoan, as the Actiniaria Actinia nigropunctata den
rnatic events' 03, has been recently described, although in those cases, the Pleistocene
. seems to pl '
nce of end'
emlc sp .
ay
.
an Important role and was used by some authors to justify
_
the
eCles In macaronesian waters (see den HARTOG & OCANA, 2003