Astrogorgia 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

Astrogorgia sp. indet.

Materials

Type status: Other material. Taxon: scientificName: Astrogorgia; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Cnidaria; class: Anthozoa; order: Alcyonacea; family: Plexauridae; genus: Astrogorgia; scientificNameAuthorship: Verrill, 1868; Location: waterBody: Indian Ocean; country: Seychelles; locality: Aldabra N 1, Aldabra W 1, Astove W 1, Desroches S 1 ; minimumDepthInMeters: 30 m; maximumDepthInMeters: 148.1 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 typically <20 cm in height, but some up to 55 cm tall, growing as uniplanar, irregularly branched fans. Branches thin with large polyp calices giving the colony a spiky appearance. Anastomoses are never observed. Colour shades of red to brown with yellow polyps. Species of Acanthogorgia and Muricella can have similar growth forms; therefore particular attention should be paid to whether calices, the identifying feature of Astrogorgia , are present (Fig. 59).