Abstract
We provide the first record of the shallow and mesophotic (< 150 m depth) antipatharian coral Antipathes grandis VERRILL, 1928 from the Indian Ocean. First described from Hawaii, A. grandis was recently found on a mesophotic coral reef in SW Madagascar. Its identity was confirmed by means of morphological and molecular analyses (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I). These findings not only expand our knowledge of the potential geographic range of antipatharian corals, but also challenge the belief that only deep-sea (> 200 m depth) benthic taxa have such wide geographic distributions.
Highlights
Corals in the order Antipatharia MILNE-EDWARDS & HAIME, 1857 (Anthozoa: Hexacorallia) – commonly known as black corals – inhabit all oceans at depths ranging from 2 m down to 8600 m (Roberts et al 2009; Wagner et al 2012)
Sample collection Two branching antipatharian colonies each about 1.5 m wide – a white and a red colour morphotype (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels, INV.131346) - were sampled in December 2018 at 40 m depth on a mesophotic coral reef located off the northern part of the Great Reef of Toliara (GRT), in South West (SW) Madagascar (23°21.345′ S, 43°36.348′ E)
The wider ranges reported in the Hawaiian population might be due to the larger number of specimens examined (N = 34 vs. N = 2), and the fact that the measurements might not have been taken at the same relative locations along the terminal branchlets in the two studies
Summary
Corals in the order Antipatharia MILNE-EDWARDS & HAIME, 1857 (Anthozoa: Hexacorallia) – commonly known as black corals – inhabit all oceans at depths ranging from 2 m down to 8600 m (Roberts et al 2009; Wagner et al 2012). The arborescent colonies of A. grandis and Antipathes griggi (Opresko 2009) have been harvested for their skeleton to support the black coral jewellery industry since their discovery in Hawaii (Grigg 1984, 2001; Montgomery and France 2006; Wagner et al 2010). This commercial exploitation of antipatharian corals has been the impetus for ecological studies on these two species for several decades in Hawaii (Grigg 1964, 1965, 1984, 1993, 2001; Kahng and Grigg 2005; Wagner et al 2010, 2017). These ecological studies, are some of the lengthiest and most detailed ones conducted on any antipatharian species to date
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