Erythropodium caribaeorum (Duchassaing and Michelotti, 1860) (Cnidaria Alcyonacea), an additional alien coral in the Southwestern Atlantic Author Carpinelli, Ágatha Nascimento 0000-0002-2832-2162 Programa de Pós-graduação em Biodiversidade e Ecologia Marinha e Costeira, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Santos / SP, Author Cordeiro, Ralf Tarciso Silva 0000-0002-3164-5333 Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco / PE, 52171 - 900. BRAZIL & Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. USA https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 3164 - 5333 Author Neves, Leonardo Mitrano 0000-0002-0269-6588 Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Departamento de Ciências do Meio Ambiente, Três Rios / RJ, 25802 - 100. BRAZIL https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 0269 - 6588 Author Moura, Rodrigo Leão De 0000-0002-5597-6196 Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Biologia and SAGE / COPPE, Rio de Janeiro / RJ, 21941 - 972. BRAZIL https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 5597 - 6196 Author Kitahara, Marcelo Visentini 0000-0003-4011-016X Programa de Pós-graduação em Biodiversidade e Ecologia Marinha e Costeira, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Santos / SP, & Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Instituto do Mar, Santos / SP, 11070 - 100. BRAZIL & Universidade de São Paulo, Centro de Biologia Marinha, São Sebastião / SP, 11612 - 109. BRAZIL https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0003 - 4011 - 016 X text Zootaxa 2020 2020-08-05 4822 2 175 190 journal article 8813 10.11646/zootaxa.4822.2.2 81a52802-468c-43d0-8fbf-174f3d24f25a 1175-5326 4449718 4576220B-CA3E-4345-ABA2-E2EC50A8DADF Genus Erythropodium Kölliker 1865 Erythropodium caribaeorum ( Duchassaing and Michelotti 1860 ) Description. Encrusting and membranous carpet-like colony, strongly attached to the substrate and with up to 25 evenly distributed polyps (< 5 cm ) per square centimeter. Pinnules elongate, arranged in a single pair of rows (one at each side of a tentacle). Calyces inconspicuous or absent. When present, calyces form small mounds with eight lobules each. Sclerites are six-radiate ( Fig. 2 ), arranged in two layers with similar sclerites in terms of form and size ( Table 1 ). Sclerites ( Fig. 2 ) evenly distributed in coenenchyme, polyp body wall, tentacles and pinnules, slightly smaller and more densely packed in tentacles and pinnules. Cortical layer thick, translucent or white. Inner layer slender with slightly smaller dark-red sclerites, sometimes fused. TABLE 1. Measurements (µm) of sclerites of Erythropodium caribaeorum from cortical and inner coenenchymal layers (20 sclerites each).
Mean±SD Mean±SD
Cortical layer Length I* 305±58 Inner layer Length I* 328±54
Length II* 263±66 Length II* 275±52
Six-radiate width** 69±12 Six-radiate width** 65±12
* major perpendicular lengths of sclerites ** axis diameter of sclerites (do not include arms and tubercles) Phylogenetic analysis. Sequencing of nuclear 28SrDNA resulted in ~700 bp, and the mitochondrial mtMutS and COI+igr in ~720 bp each, yielding a concatenated alignment of 1.202 phylogenetically informative sites. All analyses resulted in similar topologies ( Fig. 3 ) and match E. caribaeorum (GenBank accession number: GQ342480 — specimen RMNH Coel. 40829) with a p- distance of only 0.3%. A slightly low bootstrap branch support was found with BI when compared to ML.
Distribution and abundance . In the SWA, E. caribaeorum seems to be contained to the study site in Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro , where a single 2 m 2 colony was recorded at 5 m depth.