Viminella crassa Grasshoff, 1999

Ramvilas, Ghosh, Alderslade, Philip & Ranjeet, Kutty, 2023, The taxonomy of Indian gorgonians: an assessment of the descriptive records of gorgonians (Anthozoa: Octocorallia: Alcyonacea) recorded as occurring in the territorial waters of India, along with neighbouring regions and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and the highlighting of perceived unethical practice, Zootaxa 5236 (1), pp. 1-124 : 105-106

Viminella crassa Grasshoff, 1999

Viminella crassa Grasshoff, 1999: 74 , fig. 122; pl. 8, fig. 1 ( New Caledonia).

Opinion: There is not enough evidence to affirm this species occurs in the region.

Justification:

These Indian records seem to be either invalid or unconfirmable: Kumar et al. 2014a: 26, pl. 10, fig. A–D (Andaman Is.); Fernando et al. 2017: 244, pl. 113, figs A–D (Andaman Is.).

Literature analysis: The descriptions given by Kumar et al. (2014a) and Fernando et al. (2017) are identical, but the true characteristics of the material are unknown because most of the text is copied straight from Grasshoff’s publication. Even the colony size is stated to be the same— 60 cm —when there are two illustrated and the largest is about 14cm long. The figured sclerites are restricted to just a few light microscope images that are blurred and have been roughly montage and cannot adequately be compared to Grasshoff’s figures. The surface sclerites are described as being 0.06–0.09 mm long, which is exactly the same as in Grasshoff’s original specimen, but their figure has sclerites as small as 0.025 mm. The polyps are said to be large, elevated and crowded all around (as per Grasshoff’s text and figure), which does not match the figured close-up, even it is of one the short polyp-free zones said to occur.

In Kumar et al. (2015) the species is just listed with a figure of the shortest of the colonies from the 2014 and 2017 papers mentioned above. Kumar et al. (2018a) just lists the species, and in Kumar et al. (2019b) the species is listed and an underwater image of a brown whip-like colony is provided. Viminella crassa is probably endemic to New Caledonia.