Abstract
A number of stylasterid corals are known to act as host species and create refuges for a variety of mobile and sessile organisms, which enhances their habitat complexity. These include annelids, anthozoans, cirripeds, copepods, cyanobacteria, echinoderms, gastropods, hydroids and sponges. Here we report the first evidence of a diverse association between stylasterids and scalpellid pedunculate barnacles and describe a new stylasterid species, Errina labrosa, from the Tristan da Cunha Archipelago. Overall, five stylasterid species are found to host eight scalpellid barnacles from several biogeographic regions in the southern hemisphere (Southern Ocean, temperate South America and the southern Indo-Pacific realms). There is an apparent lack of specificity in this kind of association and different grades of reaction to the symbiosis have been observed in the coral. These records suggest that the association between pedunculate barnacles and hard stylasterid corals has a wide distribution among different biogeographic realms and that it is relatively rare and confined largely to deep water.
Highlights
Many stylasterid corals, like their shallow-water largely scleractinian counterparts, are considered habitatforming species because they contribute to the structuring of deep and shallow water coral banks (Roberts et al 2006, Häussermann and Försterra 2007)
This paper reports the first evidence of a diverse association between stylasterids and scalpellid pedunculate barnacles from several southern biogeographic regions and describes a new stylasterid species from the Tristan da Cunha Archipelago involved in this symbiosis
The identification of the barnacles has been limited to illustrated specimens and while at least two subfamilies of the species-rich Scalpellidae are represented, it was not possible to identify all to species or even genus level
Summary
Like their shallow-water largely scleractinian counterparts (see e.g. Patton 1994, Stella et al 2011, Hoeksema et al 2012), are considered habitatforming species because they contribute to the structuring of deep and shallow water coral banks (Roberts et al 2006, Häussermann and Försterra 2007). In Inferiolabiata labiata (Moseley, 1879) the polynoid Polyeunoa laevis McIntosh, 1885 induces modifications in the growing branches prior to the production of a reticulate tube in which the worm travels (Moseley 1879, Cairns 1983a) Those epibionts probably receive protection from predators, and access to food is increased due to the tridimensional shape of the colonies (Braga-Henriques et al 2010)
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