Scleronephthya sp. indet.

Fassbender, Nico, Stefanoudis, Paris V, Filander, Zoleka Nontlantla, Gendron, Gilberte, Mah, Christopher L, Mattio, Lydiane, Mortimer, Jeanne A, Moura, Carlos J, Samaai, Toufiek, Samimi-Namin, Kaveh, Wagner, Daniel, Walton, Rowana & Woodall, Lucy C, 2021, Reef benthos of Seychelles - A field guide, Biodiversity Data Journal 9, pp. 65970-65970 : 65970

Scleronephthya sp. indet.

Materials

Type status: Other material. Taxon: scientificName: Scleronephthya sp.; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Cnidaria; class: Anthozoa; order: Alcyonacea; family: Nephtheidae; genus: Scleronephthya; scientificNameAuthorship: Studer, 1887; Location: waterBody: Indian Ocean; country: Seychelles; locality: Aldabra N 1, Aldabra W 1, D'Arros N 1, Desroches S 1 ; minimumDepthInMeters: 32 m; maximumDepthInMeters: 120.7 m; locationRemarks: First Descent : Seychelles Expedition ; Identification : identifiedBy: Nico Fassbender , Kaveh Samimi-Namin , Paris Stefanoudis ; dateIdentified: 2019, 2020; identificationRemarks: identified only from imagery; Event : samplingProtocol: Submersible OR Remotely Operated Vehicle OR SCUBA; Record Level: basisOfRecord: Human observation

Notes

Colonies up to 25 cm in height, sparsely branched and arborescent, often planar. Polyps only on the branched part of the colony and are normally expanded at night and in strong currents. Colouration translucent-white with bluish-purple polyps. Can be confused with Dendronephthya , which has a similar appearance, but its polyps typically form bunches that cover the entire colony surface (Fig. 47).