Carijoa riisei ( Duchassaing and Michelotti, 1860 )

Devictor, Susan T. & Morton, Steve L., 2010, Identification guide to the shallow water (0 - 200 m) octocorals of the South Atlantic Bight 2599, Zootaxa 2599 (1), pp. 1-62 : 24-25

Carijoa riisei ( Duchassaing and Michelotti, 1860)

( Figure 24 )

Clavularia riisei Duchassaing and Michelotti, 1860:34 .— Duchassaing and Michelotti, 1864:23.— Kölliker 1865:131; Plate 18 fig. 24.

Carijoa rupicola Müller, 1867:330 ; Plate 9 figs. 56–67.

? Telesto africana Verrill, 1870:372 ; Fig. 3 .

Telesto rupicola Laackmann, 1909:81 ; Fig. D; Plate 2 figs. 1–2; Plate 3 fig. 3.

Telesto riisei .— Verrill 1870:372.— Hargitt and Rogers 1901:278; Fig A.— Laackmann 1909:78; Fig. C; Plate 3 fig 4; Plate 7 figs. 28–29.— Deichmann 1936: 44; Plate 2 figs.17–19.— Bayer 1959b:3; Fig. 1 .— Bayer 1961:39; Figs. 3 , 4 , 9g ; Plate XII.— Tixier-Durivault 1970:147.

Carijoa riisei .— Bayer 1981a:909; Fig.2 .— Cairns et al, 2002:33.

Material examined. USNM 72448, 35 m, off Georgia, March 12, 1980 . SERTC S2719 , 30.5 m, off Edisto Island , South Carolina, April 29, 2005 .

Remarks. Carijoa riisei is considered a fouling organism. The colonies are densely branching, often having a large, bushy appearance, and are white or pale when preserved. The cylindrical calyces of the primary polyps and daughter polyps have eight longitudinal grooves. Specimens of C. riisei are distinguished easily from other branched SAB clavulariids by the sclerites, which are branching, thorny rods and spindles, as opposed to granular bodies of Telesto sanguinea , T. fruticulosa and T. nelleae . There is some weak fusion of thorny rods. The polyps bear sparse spiculation in the form of small rods, which are located in the polyp bases and basal regions of the mesenteries.

Atlantic distribution: South Carolina to Brazil, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean; low tide line to 104 m (NMNH records indicate a specimens collected from 309 m off Havana, Cuba, and from 732 m off the Florida Keys; Deichmann (1936) noted a colony from St. Lucia collected from 508 m). ( Deichmann, 1936; Bayer, 1961; NMNH collections; SERTC collection).

Figures

FIGURE 1. The South Atlantic Bight, which includes coastal waters between Cape Hatteras and Cape Canaveral, USA. The 200 m isobath is shown.

FIGURE 2. Branching colony forms; a) dichotomous (Iciligorgia schrammi); b) monopodial (Telesto sp.); c) whip-like branches (Leptogorgia virgulata); d) rod-like branches (Titanideum frauenfeldii); e) open, irregularly pinnate (Muricea pendula) f) planar (Leptogorgia hebes); g) lobed, with clusters of polyps (Pseudodrifa nigra).

FIGURE 3. Unbranched colony forms; a) flagelliform (whip-like) (Leptogorgia setacea); b) capitate (Nidalia occidentalis); c) foliose (Renilla reniformis) d) club-like (Sclerobelemnon theseus); e) pen-like (Virgularia presbytes); f) stoloniferous (Scleranthelia rugosa var. rugosa).

FIGURE 4. Anthocodiae of Thesea nivea. Indicated are pinnules (Pi), sclerites forming points (Po) and collaret (Col), tentacles (Te), neck (Ne), anthocodia (An) and calyx (Cal).

FIGURE 9. a) Pseudodrifa nigra, basal disc indicated; b) holdfast of Muricea pendula; c) encrusting colony of Scleranthelia rugosa (from Bayer 1981a).

FIGURE 24. Carijoa riisei: A, coenenchymal sclerites (USNM 72448); a) fused rods; b, c) rods (scale bar = 0.05 mm); B, preserved colony.