Tubastraea coccinea Lesson, 1829

Fig. 10O

Tubastraea coccinea Lesson, 1829: 93. -Wells 1936: 132. - Cairns et al. 1991: 48. - Cairns 1991 a: 26-27, pl. 12, figs C-E. -Ogawa and Takahashi 1993: 98, pl. 1, figs 1-8, pl. 2, figs 1-4, pl. 5, figs 1-5. - Cairns and Keller 1993: 282-284. -Cairns 1994: 93-94, pl. 39, figs G-I. - Cairns and Zibrowius 1997: 197. - Cairns 1998: 409. - Cairns et al. 1999: 27. - Cairns 2000: 178-180, figs 212-215. -Romano and Cairns 2000: 1049. - Cairns 2001: 29, pl. 10, figs I-L. -Randall 2003: 136. -Cairns 2004a: 318. -Tachikawa 2005: 20, pl. 13, figs A-C. - Cairns 2006: 49. -Kitahara 2007: 504-505, 515, fig. 5K. -Pires 2007: 269.- Cairns 2009: 27. -Lam et al. 2008: 736, fig. 2A, B. - Kitahara et al. 2010a: 115. - Kitahara et al. 2010b: 9. - Kitahara and Cairns 2021: 351, 353-354, figs 188A-B, 189.

Lobopsammia aurea Quoy & Gaimard, 1833: 195, pl. 15, figs 7-11.

Dendrophyllia aurantiaca Dana, 1846: 388.

Coenopsammia coccinea . - Milne-Edwards and Haime 1848b: 107-108.

Coenopsammia ehrenbergiana Milne-Edwards & Haime, 1848b: 109, pl. 1, fig. 12.

Dendrophyllia ehrenbergiana . -van der Horst 1922: 55-56, 74, pl. 7.

Tubastraea tenuilamellosa . -Durham 1947: 38-39, pl. 11, figs 1, 2, 4, 9, pl. 12, figs 6, 7. -Durham and Barnard 1952: 105-106, pl. 12, fig. 50D. - Boschma 1953: 109-117, pl. 9, figs 1-4, pl. 10, figs 1, 3-5, pl. 11, figs 1, 3.

Tubastrea tenuilamellosa . - Boschma 1951: 44-46. -Durham 1962: 42, 44-46. -Olivares 1971: 75-77, pl. 2, figs A, B.

Tubastraea aurea . - Boschma 1953: 111-118 (in part: pl. 10, figs 2, 6, pl. 11, figs 4-6, pl. 12, figs 1-6). -Stephenson and Wells 1956: 59. -Squires 1959b: 427-428. - Pichon 1964: 191. - Eguchi 1965a: 295. -Utinomi 1965: 257-258. - Squires 1966: 169.

Dendrophyllia aurea . - Macnae and Kalk 1958: 123.

Dendrophyllia coccinea . - Eguchi 1965a: 296. -Utinomi 1965: 257. - Boshoff 1981: 41.

Tubastrea coccinea . - Latypov 1990: 66-67, pl. 27, fig. 1, pl. 32, fig. 3.

Type locality.

Bora-Bora, Society Islands; depth unknown (Lesson 1829).

Type material.

The holotype is deposited at the MNHNP (Wells 1936; Cairns 1994).

Material examined.

ORI_EIb4 (1 specimen): Eastern margin, Isipingo; depth unknown.

Description.

Colony plocoid, formed by extra-tentacular budding at colony margin. Calices adjacent to each other, and project slightly above coenosteum. Corallites circular to slightly elliptical (GCD:LCD = 1.0-1.3), reaching ≤ 10.0 mm in CD. Costae prominent, equal in width, and granulated. Intercostal striae deep and porous. Corallum white.

Septa hexamerally arranged in four complete cycles according to the formula: S1 ≥ S2> S3> S4 (≤ 48 septa). S1 extend to columella with vertical axial margins. S2 equal or only slightly less wide than S1, also with straight axial margins. S3 ~ ¼ the width of S2, and bear dentate to laciniate axial margins. S4 rudimentary, but sometimes joining before S3 in a weak Pourtalès plan. S4 axial margins laciniate. All septa non-exsert. Fossa of moderate depth containing a columella ranging from rudimentary to a large spongy structure.

Distribution.

Regional: Eastern margin of South Africa, off Isipingo (Boshoff 1981); depth unknown. Elsewhere: Cosmopolitan in tropical shallow and warm temperate waters (Cairns and Zibrowius 1997); 0-110 m.

Remarks.

Tubastraea coccinea, an Indo-Pacific species, has been noted to exhibit a highly invasive footprint in the Atlantic (Cairns 1994, 2000; Sammarco et al. 2010) during the last seven decades. Six Recent species ( T. coccinea, T. diaphana (Dana, 1846), T. faulkneri Wells, 1982, T. floreana Wells, 1982, T. micranthus (Ehrenberg, 1834), T. tagusensis Wells, 1982) are recogniszed to date; three of which occur off South Africa ( T. coccinea, T. diaphana, T. micranthus) and are distinguished from one another by colony size and shape (Cairns and Keller 1993; Cairns and Zibrowius 1997).