Condylactis gigantea ( Weinland, 1860 )

Gonzalez-Muñoz, Ricardo, Simões, Nuno, Sanchez-Rodriguez, Judith, Rodriguez, Estefania & Segura-Puertas, Lourdes, 2012, First Inventory of Sea Anemones (Cnidaria: Actiniaria) of the Mexican Caribbean, Zootaxa 3556, pp. 1-38 : 18-20

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.203987

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6180911

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/35648787-DB1A-FFB7-88E5-FC5CFA0CFC04

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scientific name

Condylactis gigantea ( Weinland, 1860 )
status

 

Condylactis gigantea ( Weinland, 1860) View in CoL

( Figure 5 View FIGURE 5 , Table 2 View TABLE 2 )

Anthea gigantea Weinland, 1860: 38 View in CoL .

Condylactis passiflora Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864: 31 View in CoL .

Condylactis Passiflora View in CoL [sic] Duchassaing, 1870: 20.

Bunodes passiflora Andres, 1883: 240 .

Ilyanthopsis longifilis Hertwig, 1888: 13 View in CoL –14.

Condylactis gigantea Verrill, 1905: 256 View in CoL , 258–261, 280.

Codylactis giganthea Uchida & Soyama, 2001: 150 View in CoL .

Condylactis giganthea Uchida & Soyama, 2001: 142 View in CoL , 155.

Material examined.— Puerto Morelos (20°52’5.10” N, 86°51’42.66” W; 13 specimens); GoogleMaps Majahual (18°42’28.18” N, 87°42’36.92” W; 1 specimen); GoogleMaps Punta Cancún (21°9’10.5” N, 86°44’41.2” W; 1 specimen); GoogleMaps Isla Mujeres (21°11’55.06” N, 86°43’35.88” W; 3 specimens), GoogleMaps Punta Nizuc (21°8’15.65” N, 86°44’20.57” W; 1 specimen); GoogleMaps Akumal (20°23’39.68” N, 87°18’47.39” W; 1 specimen); GoogleMaps Xcalak (18°15’53.55” N, 87°49’43.2” W; 2 specimens); GoogleMaps Isla Contoy (21°29’0.1” N, 86°47’39.1” W; 4 specimens). GoogleMaps

Diagnosis.—Fully expanded tentacles and oral disc often more than 200 mm in diameter. Oral disc 25–80 mm in diameter, wider than column, smooth, concave, pale brown to pale orange, or bright green to pale green ( Figure 5 View FIGURE 5 B). Tentacles 48–96, hexamerously arranged in four or five cycles, simple, cylindrical, long (to 120 mm), inner ones longer than outer ones, not completely contractile, smooth but striated in appearance, white, greenish or pale brown ( Figure 5 View FIGURE 5 A–D). Tentacle tips slightly swollen, blunt, with a terminal pore, mainly bright green or pink, sometimes bluish or purple ( Figure 5 View FIGURE 5 A). Juveniles usually with knobby tentacles. Deep fossa ( Figure 5 View FIGURE 5 F). Column cylindrical, smooth, 16–65 mm in diameter and 23–55 mm in height. Pedal disc well developed, 18–75 mm in diameter, slightly wider than column ( Figure 5 View FIGURE 5 C, D). Pedal disc and column bright scarlet to pale orange, or brownish to pale yellow ( Figure 5 View FIGURE 5 C, D). Mesenteries hexamerously arranged in four cycles (48 pairs in specimens examined): first, second and most of third cycle perfect, others imperfect. No gametogenic tissue observed. Two pairs of directives each attached to a well developed siphonoglyph ( Figure 5 View FIGURE 5 E). Retractor muscles restricted and strong; parietobasilar muscles well developed with free mesogleal pennon ( Figure 5 View FIGURE 5 E). Basilar muscles well developed. Marginal sphincter muscle absent ( Figure 5 View FIGURE 5 F). Longitudinal muscles of tentacles ectodermal. Zooxanthellae present. Cnidom: basitrichs, microbasic p- mastigophores and spirocysts ( Figure 5 View FIGURE 5 G– O; see Table 2 View TABLE 2 ).

Natural history.— Condylactis gigantea lives in shallow waters inside crevices and holes of coral rocks, in rubble flats, seagrass fields, and rocky patches, often between 2–12 m depth, but can be found down to 30 m in the lagoon, fore and back-reef zones. It is often associated with the crustaceans Thor amboinensis , Ancylomenes pedersoni ( Chace, 1958) , Periclimenes yucatanicus ( Ives, 1891) ( Figure 5 View FIGURE 5 A), and Mithrax cinctimanus Stimpson, 1860 ( Manjarrés 1977; Cairns et al. 1986; Ritson-Williams & Paul 2007), as well as with some reef fishes ( Hanlon & Hixon 1986).

Distribution.— Condylactis gigantea is found along the entire Caribbean Sea, from Bermuda to Colombia (see Table 1); it is also reported in southern Brazil (Abrolhos Islands and Rio de Janeiro) ( Corrêa 1973; Zamponi et al. 1998). Although C. gigantea is reported for the Mexican Caribbean in Punta Cancún, Punta Nizuc, Isla Mujeres, Puerto Morelos, and Cozumel reefs (INE 1998a, 1998b, 2000), this is the first time recorded for Akumal, Majahual, Xcalak, and Isla Contoy reefs.

Remarks.—The genus Condylactis includes four valid species of which only C. gigantea is distributed in the Caribbean Sea ( Fautin 2011). Condylactis gigantea is mainly distinguished from the other species in lacking verrucae in the distal column ( Studer 1879; Kwietniewski 1896, 1898; McMurrich 1889a, Corrêa 1964). However, juvenile individuals may present verrucae that dissapear in the adult form ( McMurrich 1889a, Duerden 1898). Furthermore, several authors have mentioned the presence of more or less inconspicuously colored longitudinal rows of dots in the column of C. gigantea ( Duchassaing & Michelotti 1864; Verrill 1905; Carlgren 1952). Although in some specimens we also observed the coloration pattern with minute dots (and some juveniles with knobby tentacles and small white dots scattered in the distal column), we did not find verrucae in our histological examinations. Although the marginal sphincter muscle of C. gigantea has been described as diffuse ( McMurrich 1889a; Verrill 1905), we did not observe a developed marginal sphincter muscle (as indicated in Carlgren’s (1949) diagnosis for the genus). We also found the retractor muscles restricted rather than diffuse ( Carlgren 1949). Voss (1980) considered that the coloration of C. gigantea is variable according to habitat; however, whether this variation is due to the direct influence of the habitat, accidental settling of a particular morph in one area, or genetics is unknown ( Wicksten 1989). The genetic studies of Stoletzki & Schierwater (2005) of C. gigantea from Jamaica suggest that green-tip color morphs are more frequent in shallow waters and pink-tip color morphs dominate deeper areas due to adaptation to different levels of radiation. In the Mexican Caribbean, both green- and pink-tip color morphs could be often found at the same depth and frequently sharing the same niche ( Figure 5 View FIGURE 5 A).

Andres, A. (1883) Le Attinie. Coi Tipi der Salviucci, Roma, 1, 460 pp.

Cairns, S., den Hartog, J. C. & Arneson, C. (1986) Class Anthozoa (Corals, Anemones). In: Sterrer, W. & Schoepfer-Sterrer, C. (Eds.), Marine Fauna and Flora of Bermuda, John Wiley & Sons, New York, pp. 164 - 194.

Carlgren, O. (1949) A survey of the Ptychodactiaria, Corallimorpharia and Actiniaria. Kunglia Svenska Vetenskaps- Akademiens Handlingar, 1, 1 - 121.

Chace, F. A. Jr., (1958) A new shrimp of the genus Periclimenes from the West Indies. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 71, 125 - 130.

Correa, D. D. (1964) Corallimorpharia e Actiniaria do Atlantico Oeste Tropical. Universidade de Sao Paulo, 39 pp.

Correa, D. D. (1973) Sobre anemonas-do-mar (Actiniaria) do Brasil. Boletim de Zoologia e Biologia Marinha, 30, 457 - 468.

Duchassaing, P. & Michelotti, G. (1864) Supplement au memoire sur les Coralliaires des Antilles. Imprimerie Royale, Turin, 112 pp.

Duchassaing, P. (1870) Revue des Zoophytes et des Spongiaires des Antilles. Chez Victor Masson et Fils, Paris, 52 pp.

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Fautin, D. G. (2011) Hexacorallians of the World. Available from: http: // geoportal. kgs. ku. edu / hexacoral / anemone 2 / index. cfm (accessed 3 May 2012).

Hanlon, R. T. & Hixon, R. F. (1986) Behavioral associations of coral reef fishes with the sea anemone Condylactis gigantea in the Dry Tortugas, Florida. Bulletin of Marine Science, 39, 130 - 134.

Hertwig, R. (1888) Report on the Actiniaria dredged by H. M. S. Challenger during the years 1873 - 1876 (Supplement). Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of the H. M. S. Challenger during the years 1873 - 76 (Zoology), 26, 1 - 56.

Ives, J. E. (1891) Crustacea from the northern coast of Yucatan, the harbor of Veracruz, the west coast of Florida and the Bermuda Islands. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 176 - 207.

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Kwietniewski, C. R. (1898) Actiniaria von Ambon und Thursday Island. Zoologische Forschungsreisen in Australien und dem Malayischen Archipel von Richard Semon. Systematik, Tiergeographie, Anatomie wirbelloser Tiere, Gustav Fischer, Jena, 5, pp. 385 - 430.

Manjarres, G. A. (1977) Contribucion al conocimiento de las actinias en la region de Santa Marta, Colombia. Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas, Punta Betin, 9, 91 - 104.

McMurrich, J. P. (1889 a) The Actiniaria of the Bahama Islands, W. I. Journal of Morphology, 3, 1 - 80.

Ritson-Williams, R. & Paul, V. J. (2007) Periclimenes yucatanicus and Periclimenes rathbunae on unusual corallimorph host. Coral Reefs, 26, 147.

Stimpson, W. (1860) Notes on North American Crustacea, in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York, 7, 176 - 246.

Stoletzki, N. & Schierwater, B. (2005) Genetic and color morph differentiation in the Caribbean sea anemone Condylactis gigantea. Marine Biology, 147, 747 - 754.

Studer, T. (1879) Zweite Abtheilung der Anthozoa polyactinia, welche wahrend der Reise S. M. S. Corvette Gazelle um die Erde gesammelt wurden. Monatsberichte der konglich preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 524 - 550.

Uchida, H. & Soyama, I. (2001) Sea Anemones in Japanese Waters. TBS, Japan, 157 pp.

Verrill, A. E. (1905) The Bermuda Islands. Part IV. Geology and paleontology, and Part V. An account of the coral reefs. Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 12, 45 - 348.

Weinland, D. F. (1860) Uber Inselbildung durch korallen und Mangrovebusche im mexikanischen Golf. Wurttembergische Naturwissenschaftliche Jahreshefte, 16, 31 - 44.

Wicksten, M. K. (1989) Why are there bright colors in sessile marine invertebrates? Bulletin of Marine Science, 45 (2), 519 - 530.

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Gallery Image

FIGURE 5. — Condylactis gigantea. (A) Live specimen in natural habitat. (B) Oral view. (C) Lateral view. (D) Pedal disc view. (E) Cross section through distal column. (F) Detail of longitudinal section through column margin. (G – O) Cnidae. — tentacles: (G) basitrich, (H) spirocyst; actinopharynx: (I) basitrich, (J) basitrich; column: (K) basitrich, (L) basitrich; filament: (M) basitrich, (N) basitrich, (O) microbasic p - mastigophore. Abbreviations. — c: column, e: epidermis, fi: filament, fo: fossa, g: gastrodermis, od: oral disc, pb: parietobasilar muscles, pd: pedal disc, rm: retractor muscle, s: siphonoglyph, t: tentacle. Scale bars. — A – D: 10 mm; E – F: 200 µm; G – O: 25 µm.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Cnidaria

Class

Anthozoa

Order

Actiniaria

SubOrder

Nynantheae

InfraOrder

Thenaria

SuperFamily

Endomyaria

Family

Actiniidae

Genus

Condylactis