Muricea crassa Verrill, 1869

Breedy, Odalisca & Guzman, Hector M., 2016, A revision of the genus Muricea Lamouroux, 1821 (Anthozoa, Octocorallia) in the eastern Pacific. Part II, ZooKeys 581, pp. 1-69 : 42-44

Taxon classification Animalia Alcyonacea Plexauridae

Muricea crassa Verrill, 1869 Figures 29, 30

Muricea crassa Verrill, 1869: 425-426; Kükenthal 1919: 752; Kükenthal 1924: 144; Riess 1929: 392-393.

Material.

Lectotype: YPM 1798 (figured specimen), dry, Pearl Islands, Panamá, F.H. Bradley, 1866, no further data. Paralectotypes: PANAMÁ: MCZ 702; MCZ 7015; YPM 1558; ZMUC-ANT 19, same data as the lectotype.

Description.

The lectotype is a large bushy colony, 40 cm long and 50 cm wide. The holdfast is irregular, and swollen, about 7 cm wide and 4 cm high covering one side of the rock remains to which is attached. The branching is irregularly dichotomous, mostly lateral, in one plane (Fig. 29A). There is not a common stem, but 4 main branches arise directly from the holdfast. They are up to 15 mm in diameter, extending up to 7.5 cm and subdivide in secondary branches, that bifurcate up to 6 times producing subordinate branches, no more than 25 mm apart. They project at angles 45°-90°, and curve upwards. They are of the same diameter, and thicker toward the tips, which are wide and clavate. Some branch anastomoses occur, especially at the base. Unbranched terminal ends are up to 7 cm long, with expanded tips 7-10 mm in diameter, some short branchlets 1-2 cm long, are up to 12 mm in diameter. Axes are of a dark brown at the base, lighter at the tips. The calyces are all around the branches, close together, not imbricate (Fig. 29B). They are prominent, up to 3 mm long, covered with large spindles with echinulate ends. The calyces on the lower branches are more conical and blunter that the ones on the upper branches, also more distantly spaced and smaller. The coenenchyme is coarse, composed of large and irregular spindles, they are reddish-brown and of lighter and darker hues (Fig. 29C). Outer coenenchymal and calycular sclerites are large and strong. They are mostly unilateral spinous spindles with an inner surface of crowded complex small warts and an outer surface with short sparsely placed spines or prickles. They are of diverse shapes, unequal with one side truncate and the other acute, bifurcated at one side, others are triangular or with almost rectangular forms, 0.56-2.5 mm long and 0.40-0.70 mm wide (Fig. 30A). The calycular wall is composed of elongated spindles with acute ends and spindles with prickly terminal spikes or bifurcated, 0.92-0.32 mm long and 0.8-0.1 mm wide (Fig. 30B). These types of sclerites give the calyces a stout, rough appearance characteristic of this species. The axial sheath is composed of small, colourless radiates, and small spindles, 0.08-0.38 mm long and 0.07-0.09 mm wide (Fig. 30D). Anthocodial sclerites are light orange to yellowish spindles. They have long and sharp terminal spines or with spiny shafts, 0.3-0.65 mm long and 0.04-0.12 mm wide (Fig. 30C) that are at the base of the polyps. Furthermore, some irregular branched forms, 0.15-0.2 mm long and 0.03-0.06 mm wide, and small rods 0.09-0.3 mm long and 0.01-0.04 mm wide.

Colour of the colony is dark brown.

Habitat and variability.

The examined colonies are up to 50 cm tall and up to 40 cm wide, but smaller specimens, around 30 cm tall are the majority. The branch tips could reach up to 15 mm in diameter, and the unbranched terminal ends up to 13 cm long. This species is very conspicuous because of the dark colour and strong and prickly branches with wide terminal tips. We have observed Muricea crassa at various localities in Panamá, from 3-12 m deep around Pearl Islands, Gulf of Panamá and the deepest records are around Coiba Island in the Gulf of Chiriquí, 20-30 m deep. It is not abundant and is sparsely distributed in patches dominated by other species.

Distribution.

It has a widespread distribution from México to Perú. Type locality, Pearl Islands, Panamá.

Remarks.

Verrill (1868b) described this species with specimens from Pearl Islands, Panamá; he registered larger sizes of sclerites, up to 3.2 mm long and 0.875 mm wide, however the other characteristics are very consistent with the examined specimens. Verrill did not designate a holotype for the species. We chose the specimen YPM 1798 as the lectotype of the species with the purpose of clearly establishing the taxonomic status of Muricea crassa . On the label of specimen YPM 1798 it was written down this as Verrill’s (1868b) figured specimen.

Other material revised.

ECUADOR: IIN 94, 121, dry, Los Ahorcados, Machalilla National Park, 10-12 m, F. Rivera, P. Martínez, 25 July 2010. PANAMÁ: STRI 28, dry, Santa Cruz Island, Chiriquí Gulf, 5-10 m, H. Guzman, 10 December 2001; STRI 104, dry, Isla Barca, 5-10 m, H. Guzman, 18 April 2002; STRI 292, dry, Piedra Hacha, 5-10 m, H. Guzman, 22 April 2002; STRI 354, dry, Almohada Island, 5-15 m, H. Guzman, 29 April 2002; STRI 374, 375, 376, dry, Toboguilla Island, 5-10 m, H. Guzman, 9 May 2002; STRI 553, etanol preserved, Bolanito Island, 6 m, H. Guzman, 16 April 2003; STRI 768, San Telmo Island, 3-8 m, H. Guzman, 7 August 2003; STRI 779, 781, 782, Pedro Gonzales Island, 3 m, H. Guzman, 11 August 2003; STRI 787, San Jose Island, 4 m, H. Guzman, 10 October 2003; STRI 907, 908, Pedro Gonzales Island, 10 m, H. Guzman, 23 September 2004.