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NUMBER 557 93
USNM 92850, 2 branches, CAS 80924. Previous Records:
Syntypes of A. rostrata and D. a. cucullata, MCZ and
USNM, respectively.
TYPES.—The syntypes of A. rostrata are deposited at the
MCZ (unnumbered). Type Locality: Blake-2: 23°14'N,
82°25'W (Straits of Florida), 1472 m.
The syntypes of D. amphelioides are deposited at the ZMA
and the Indian Museum, Calcutta (Van Soest, 1979). Type
Localities: Siboga-\56, 177: Pulau Waigeo and Palau Misool,
Indonesia; 469-1633 m.
Type material of A. adminicularis is deposited at the ZMB
(2670, 2691) (H. Zibrowius, pers. comm.) Type Locality:
"Japan," depth unknown.
The syntypes of D. amphelioides var. cucullata are deposited
at the USNM (Cairns, 1991a). Type Locality: Off Hawaiian
Islands; 426-679 m.
The holotype of E. amphelioides disticha is presumed to be
deposited at the Biological Laboratory of the Imperial
Household, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo (specimen # 857). Type
Locality: Off Satsuma Peninusla, Kagoshima-ken, southwestern
Kyushu, 270 m.
DISTRIBUTION.—Japan: East China Sea off southwestern
Kyushu; ?Sagami Bay; 270-331 m. Elsewhere: Cosmopolitan
except for eastern Pacific; 229-2165 m.
Tubastraea Lesson, 1829
DIAGNOSIS.—Colonies dendroid, bushy, or plocoid, all
achieved by extratentacular budding. Costate, no epitheca.
Septa arranged normally. Pali absent; columella usually small
and spongy.
TYPE SPECIES.—Tubastraea coccinea Lesson, 1829, by
monotypy.
Tubastraea coccinea Lesson, 1829
PLATE 39g-i
Tubastraea coccinea Lesson, 1829:93.—Wells, 1983:243-244, pi. 18: figs. 1,
2 [synonymy].—Prahl, 1987:230-231, fig. 8.—Wilson, 1990:137-138, fig.
1.—Caims, 1991a:26-27, pi. 12: figs, c-c [synonymy].—Cairns and Keller,
1993:282-284 [synonymy].
Lobopsammia aurea Quoy and Gaimard, 1833:195.
Astropsammia peterseni Verrill, 1869:392.
Dendrophyllia aurea.—Eguchi, 1934:367.
Tubastraea tenuilamellosa.—Durham, 1947:38-39, pi. 11: figs. 1, 2, 4. 9; pi.
12: figs. 6, 7.—Durham and Barnard. 1952:105-106, pi. 12: fig. 50d.
Tubastraea aurea.—Squires, 1959:427-428.—Utinomi, 1965:257-258;
1971:220-221.—Eguchi, 1965:295, 1 fig.; 1968:C68-70. pi. C16: figs. 5, 6;
pi. 17: fig. 17; pi. C26: figs. 2, 3 [synonymy].—Kikuchi, 1968:9.—Eguchi
and Miyawaki. 1975:54, pi. 7: fig. 3.—?Song, 1982:139-140, pi. 3: figs. 11,
12; 1991:137-138.—Tribble and Randall, 1986:159.
Dendrophyllia coccinea.—Eguchi, 1965:296, 1 fig.—Utinomi, 1965:257.
? Dendrophyllia sibogae.—Kikuchi. 1968:9.
ITubastraea coccinea.—Eguchi, 1968:C70-71, pi. C2: fig. 3; pi. C14: figs. 4,
5, 8, 9.—Kikuchi, 1968:9, pi. 5: fig. 4.—Utinomi, 1971:221. pi. 13: fig.
5a,b— Eguchi and Miyawaki, 1975:54, pi. 7: fig. 2.
Not Tubastraea coccinea.—Song, 1982:140, pi. 4: figs. 7, 8 [= Dendrophyllia):
1988:29-30:1991:138.
DESCRIPTION.—Mature colonies roughly spherical, the
corallites closely spaced in a plocoid arrangement. Corallites
bud extratentacularly at colony edge and between older
corallites, thus maintaining a plocoid structure as colony
increases in size. Calicular edges often directly adjacent to one
another, but occasionally corallites project 1-10 mm above
basal coenosteum. Corallites circular to slightly elliptical in
shape, the largest examined being about 13 mm in GCD, but
most are only 7-9 mm in GCD. Costae equal in width
(0.30-0.35 mm) and coarsely granular, separated by wide
(0.15-0.20 mm), very deep intercostal furrows that are highly
porous. Corallum white; coenosarc orange.
Septa hexamerally arranged in 4 cycles. S^_2 virtually equal
in size, but S1 slightly thicker and wider, penetrating farther
into the columella than S2. Upper edges of S^ nonexsert and
slightly tapered, reaching their greatest width 3-4 mm into
fossa, where they have vertical, smooth inner edges. S3 much
smaller than S^, only 0.2-0.3 mm in width, or about
15%-20% width of an SU2. Inner edges of S3 dentate to highly
laciniate from top to bottom. S4 rudimentary or of same size as
the S3, 1 or both lacking from each half-system. Inner edges of
S4 also laciniate, occasionally loosely fused to adjacent S3.
Fossa moderate to deep, containing a columella of variable
size, but usually containing a rather large, spongy columella.
DISCUSSION.—Tubastraea coccinea is a very common
shallow-water azooxanthellate with a circumtropical distribution,
and, probably because of its accessibility, has been
described under many (approximately 18) names, more
complete synonymies given by Eguchi (1968) and Wells
(1983). Its broad distribution may be the result of introductions
caused by transport on ship hulls. Its apparent spread
throughout the Caribbean, first noticed in the Netherland
Antilles and progressively in other parts of the Caribbean,
would indicate that the western Atlantic was not its original
range. Coralla of specimens from the Caribbean, Galapagos,
Japan, and the southwest Indian Ocean are indistinguishable.
MATERIAL EXAMINED.—New Records: Off Partida Island,
Espiritu Santo Islands, Gulf of California, 3 colonies, USNM
91428; off Conception Point, Gulf of California, 4 colonies,
USNM 91429; off Seto Marine Lab, Shirahama, 2-8 m, 2
colonies, USNM 83644, 83657; off Tanabe, Kii Strait, 1
colony, USNM 92851; Misaki, Sagami Bay, 1, ORI; Misaki,
Sagami Bay, 15 June 1914, Mortensen's 1914 Pacific
Expedition, 4 colonies, ZMC; TM (KT9202, YT1), 1 colony,
USNM 92852. Previous Records: Holotype of A. peterseni,
USNM; specimens reported by Caims (1991a) and Cairns and
Keller (1993).
TYPES.—The holotype of T. coccinea is deposited at the
MNHNP (Wells, pers. comm.). Type Locality: Bora Bora,
Society Islands, depth unknown.
The types of L. aurea were not traced. Type Localities: Port
du Roi George and Port Jackson, Australia, depth unknown.
The holotype of A. peterseni is deposited at the USNM