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The holotype of Chrysogorgia lunae was discovered, photographed and collected at great depths in Maud Rise, a submarine plateau in the Lasarev Sea off the Princess Martha Coast of East Antarctica's Queen Maud Land.
The colony was 25.9 cm high, 20.1 cm wide, bushy in growth and branched at various levels, and exhibited a golden metallic sheen, hence the German name “Goldene Gorgonie”, known in English as “Golden Gorgonian”.
Despite the lack of complete anchoring, the colony was apparently broken during collection very close to the most basal part.
As the main stem widens considerably towards the end, a disc-shaped form is to be expected, as occurs in other hard-bottom species of the genus.
The main stem is short and circular, has a diameter of 3.3 mm and is bent in a zigzag shape as it undergoes an angular bend at the origin of each branch.
The large branches are dichotomous, irregular and upright, with the branches spiraling out from the stem and forming a bushy colony.
The lateral branches are dichotomously structured, with the branches lying almost in one plane and the first internode of the branch 17 mm above the supposed break point.
The distance between the branches is 3 - 6 mm, depending on how thick (or old) the main branch is.
No nematozooids (cnidarian papillae) were observed.
The polyps are absent along the stem but are present and well distributed on the internodes of the branches, with usually one, sometimes two polyps on the internodes of the branches and two polyps on the terminal branches.
The polyps, which are present throughout the branch internodes, are spaced 2 - 7 mm apart.
They are bell-shaped, have a narrow base and are 1.8 - 3.5 mm high.
Thicker branches have larger polyps.
The tentacular crown of the polyps is usually shown expanded, with tentacles (1.0 - 1.4 mm long) with 18 - 20 pinnae and two rows of 9 - 10 on each side of the rachis.
The holotype is the only colony collected, but two other colonies were also observed at Maud Rise Seamount during the same video transect.
Both colonies observed appear to belong to the same species described here based on macroscopic characteristics.
These colonies were observed at depths of 1407 and 1491 meters, so the known bathymetric range for Chrysogorgia lunae is 1407-1581 meters.
The three colonies were observed on hard substrates.
Etymology
The specific epithet “lunae” was chosen in honor of Earth's natural satellite, the moon.
The species' name aims to create an analogy between the moon and deep-sea exploration by revealing landscapes that resemble those from science fiction movies, yet are completely real.
While space arouses greater curiosity in the population than the deep sea, there are still mysteries hidden beneath the waves, such as new species that invite exploration.
Perhaps a Google search for information about the satellite will unexpectedly lead to the depths of the oc
Literature reference:
Morphology and phylogenetic analysis of two new deep-sea species of Chrysogorgia (Cnidaria, Octocorallia, Chrysogorgiidae) from Kocebu Guyot (Magellan seamounts) in the Pacific Ocean
ZooKeys 881: 91–107 (2019), doi: 10.3897/zookeys.881.34759
http://zookeys.pensoft.net
Copyright Yu Xu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
The colony was 25.9 cm high, 20.1 cm wide, bushy in growth and branched at various levels, and exhibited a golden metallic sheen, hence the German name “Goldene Gorgonie”, known in English as “Golden Gorgonian”.
Despite the lack of complete anchoring, the colony was apparently broken during collection very close to the most basal part.
As the main stem widens considerably towards the end, a disc-shaped form is to be expected, as occurs in other hard-bottom species of the genus.
The main stem is short and circular, has a diameter of 3.3 mm and is bent in a zigzag shape as it undergoes an angular bend at the origin of each branch.
The large branches are dichotomous, irregular and upright, with the branches spiraling out from the stem and forming a bushy colony.
The lateral branches are dichotomously structured, with the branches lying almost in one plane and the first internode of the branch 17 mm above the supposed break point.
The distance between the branches is 3 - 6 mm, depending on how thick (or old) the main branch is.
No nematozooids (cnidarian papillae) were observed.
The polyps are absent along the stem but are present and well distributed on the internodes of the branches, with usually one, sometimes two polyps on the internodes of the branches and two polyps on the terminal branches.
The polyps, which are present throughout the branch internodes, are spaced 2 - 7 mm apart.
They are bell-shaped, have a narrow base and are 1.8 - 3.5 mm high.
Thicker branches have larger polyps.
The tentacular crown of the polyps is usually shown expanded, with tentacles (1.0 - 1.4 mm long) with 18 - 20 pinnae and two rows of 9 - 10 on each side of the rachis.
The holotype is the only colony collected, but two other colonies were also observed at Maud Rise Seamount during the same video transect.
Both colonies observed appear to belong to the same species described here based on macroscopic characteristics.
These colonies were observed at depths of 1407 and 1491 meters, so the known bathymetric range for Chrysogorgia lunae is 1407-1581 meters.
The three colonies were observed on hard substrates.
Etymology
The specific epithet “lunae” was chosen in honor of Earth's natural satellite, the moon.
The species' name aims to create an analogy between the moon and deep-sea exploration by revealing landscapes that resemble those from science fiction movies, yet are completely real.
While space arouses greater curiosity in the population than the deep sea, there are still mysteries hidden beneath the waves, such as new species that invite exploration.
Perhaps a Google search for information about the satellite will unexpectedly lead to the depths of the oc
Literature reference:
Morphology and phylogenetic analysis of two new deep-sea species of Chrysogorgia (Cnidaria, Octocorallia, Chrysogorgiidae) from Kocebu Guyot (Magellan seamounts) in the Pacific Ocean
ZooKeys 881: 91–107 (2019), doi: 10.3897/zookeys.881.34759
http://zookeys.pensoft.net
Copyright Yu Xu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
