Briareum Blainville, 1830

Samimi-Namin, Kaveh & van Ofwegen, Leen P., 2016, Overview of the genus Briareum (Cnidaria, Octocorallia, Briareidae) in the Indo-Pacific, with the description of a new species, ZooKeys 557, pp. 1-44 : 4-5

Taxon classification Animalia Alcyonacea Briareidae

Genus Briareum Blainville, 1830

Briareum Blainville, 1830: 484

Asbestia Nardo, 1845: 106

Pachyclavularia Roule, 1908: 165

Solenopodium Kükenthal, 1916a: 174

Diagnosis.

Colonies lobate, digitate or encrusting, normally with a whitish outer layer and magenta inner layer, but completely magenta or white colonies also occur. Polyps monomorphic, retractile, and without sclerites. Protruding false calyces appear in varying degrees of prominence or are not present at all. Surface layer with straight or curved spindles. Medulla with sclerites shaped like those of the surface layer but larger and coarser, and with additional branching sclerites, which can be fused. Zooxanthellate.

Distribution.

The genus has been recorded from the Caribbean and the Indo-Pacific (Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Oman Sea, Arabian Sea, Australia, Indonesia, Micronesia, Taiwan, and Bonin Islands).