New record of Sarcophyton cornispiculatum Verseveldt, 1971 (Octocorallia: Alcyonacea: Alcyoniidae) in India, from the Andaman Islands

Alcyonacean corals (Family Alcyoniidae) are represented by 153 species in seven genera in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Recent marine faunistic surveys revealed the presence of Sarcophyton cornispiculatum Verseveldt, 1971 from Oliver Island of Mayabunder, North Andaman, which is reported herein a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The European Zoological Journal
Main Authors: S. Rajendra, C. Raghunathan, Kailash Chandra
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1080/24750263.2017.1296036
https://doaj.org/article/2f0c881938d54ff681af203b492a82fc
Description
Summary:Alcyonacean corals (Family Alcyoniidae) are represented by 153 species in seven genera in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Recent marine faunistic surveys revealed the presence of Sarcophyton cornispiculatum Verseveldt, 1971 from Oliver Island of Mayabunder, North Andaman, which is reported herein as a new distributional record in India, from the Andaman Islands. This species is characterised by the clubs of surface and coenenchyme of the capitulum; ramified and bifurcated spindles in the interior of the capitulum; and oval, cylindrical sclerites in the interior of the stalk. Further, a few morphological variations, viz. distance between autozooids and siphonozooids, and length of sclerites in the colony, are also reported in the present study and discussed vis-รก-vis the type specimens reported elsewhere.