Pavona, Lamarck, 1801

Salimi, Parisa Alidoost, Mostafavi, Pargol Ghavam, Chen, Chaolun Allen, Fatemi, Seyed Mohammad Reza & Pichon, Michel, 2018, Microphysogobio bicolor, Zoological Studies 57 (56), pp. 1-34 : 3-5

Pavona decussata (Dana, 1846)

( Fig. 4 )

Synonym: Pavonia decussata Dana, 1846; Pavona lata Dana, 1846; Pavona seriata Brüggemann, 1879.

Material examined: Abu-Musa Island ( ZUTC 6583), Sirri Island ( ZUTC 6584).

Other Material: Nay-band Bay ( ZUTC 6585), Kish Island ( ZUTC 6586).

Description: Color is greenish with some shade of brown. Colony is encrusting at the base from which numerous thick bifacial fronds extending more or less vertically, upper margin of fronds straight or contorted. Corallites arrangement is thamnasterioid and formation by extratentacular budding. Septa arranged in 2 alternating orders, primary septa markedly exert, thick and reaching/ fusing to the columella. Secondary septa less exert, short and sometimes only discerned at the calice rim. Septal margin is smooth, plunging vertically into the calices. Septocostae is well developed, regular, in straight rows alternating in thickness and height. Columella is a single low boss or granule, rod-like, sometimes flattened laterally. Coenosteum reticulated.

Remarks: In the Persian Gulf, P. decussata displays two colony forms; type 1 ( Fig. 4a ) have a thick bifacial fronds extending more or less vertically with greenish color. In type 2 ( Fig. 4b ), the bifacial frond is not clear and color is whitebrown. Phylogenetic analysis (rDNA region) carried out by authors showed that both mentioned types are monophyletic and well supported (unpublished study).

Distribution: Widespread in the Persian Gulf,

Red Sea and the Indo-Pacific.

Figures

Fig. 4. (a-b) Different colonies of Pavona decussata from Abu-Musa and Sirri Islands; (c-d) close-up of orallites. Scale bar = 1 mm.