Pseudoplexaura wagenaari
Diagnosis
Colony Form:Small, dichotomously branched, bushy or monoplanar, <30 cm tall.
Axis:Cylindrical.
Branches:Few, long, thin, tapering, with tips 3-4 mm in diameter.
Apertures:Small, smooth, round to slightly oval, with lower rim sometimes slightly raised; ~ 0.5-1.0 mm across; crowded, but may be separated by more or less than their own diameters. No projecting calices.
Mucus:Slimy.
Color:Beige to purple with chestnut brown to dark brown polyps. Dries gray to brown. In alcohol white, gray, or brown.
Sclerites:Polyp armature: few flat small rods. Axial layer: purple capstans, becoming complicated dark purple spheroids when fully developed, and purple spindles, sometimes branched. Outer layer: abundant clubs with thick, spheroidal heads, sometimes with 3 or more leaves or flanges, to >0.2 mm long; many colorless, often complex, capstans, and both white and purple small stout spindles with crowded complicated tubercles (usually 0.2-0.4 mm).
Ecology
Habitat:Shallow reefs 0-30 m.
Reference(s)
Observation site(s)
SYMBIONTS
Association with... | Region origin | Name of site | In reference... |
---|---|---|---|
Symbiodinium- clade B | Quintana Roo | Cancun |
Diversity of algal endosymbionts (zooxanthellae) in octocorals: the roles of geography and host relationships. Molecular Ecology 14:2403 - 2417. doi: 10.1111/mec.2005.14.issue-810.1111/j.1365-294X.2005.02545.x (2005) |
Symbiodinium pulchrorum | Quintana Roo |
Diversity and community structure of symbiotic dinoflagellates from Caribbean coral reefs. Marine Biology 141:387 - 400. doi: 10.1007/s00227-002-0829-2 (2002) |