Dr. Marzia Bo, Italien
Info
Acanthogorgia hirsuta forms bright yellow colonies that rarely grow taller than 30 cm and have a spiny appearance. It forms dense populations at depths between 70 and 500 m on hard substrates.
Large, fan-shaped or tree-like gorgonians with colonies characterized by a rough or spiny surface. Acanthogorgia hirsuta forms bright yellow colonies that appear spiny due to the crown of long, thin sclerites of their polyps.
Colonies generally flattened (fan-shaped); often net-like or developing into dense, bushy shrubs. The branches appear thin and delicate. Polyps tall, cylindrical, covered with a spiny crown of strongly protruding, spiny sclerites embedded at the tentacle bases. They lie together over the folded tentacles, the protruding end of the sclerites is smooth. Polyps on all sides of the branches or in about two rows; standing perpendicular to the branch surface, acalycinous, not retractable. Coenchyme between the branches mostly thin, axis translucent. Sclerites in the polyps slender spindle-shaped, slightly curved, arranged in eight elongated double rows in a chevron pattern. Back of tentacles only with
The Cassidaigne Canyon (France) is polluted with huge amounts of bauxite residue from an aluminum factory inland, covering deep gorgonians (Acanthogorgia hirsuta) with red mud and showing clear signs of tissue necrosis and mud deposits.
In the Malta region, this species has been observed together with Madrepora oculata and Leiopathes glaberrima (Deidun pers. obs.) along rocky ridges, while in Corsica it has been observed in association with Dendrobrachia bonsai and Muriceides lepida (López-González and Cunha 2010, Sartoretto 2012).
A rich fauna of invertebrates has been found in association with this species, although probably not always in a strictly symbiotic relationship (Bourcier and Zibrowius 1972, Carpine and Grasshoff 1975).
Unusually high concentrations of Cu, Cd, Zn, and Co were found in specimens of Acanthogorgia hirsuta from the Azores, suggesting that this species is capable of absorbing these elements in connection with natural hydrothermal activity (Raimundo 2013).
Synonym:
Acanthogorgia horrida Studer, 1890 · unaccepted > junior subjective synonym
Acanthogorgia truncata Studer, 1890 · unaccepted > junior subjective synonym
Paramuricea hirsuta (Gray, 1857) · unaccepted > superseded combination
Our special thanks go to Dr. Marzia Bo, who sent us an exception of this rarely photographed coral!
Large, fan-shaped or tree-like gorgonians with colonies characterized by a rough or spiny surface. Acanthogorgia hirsuta forms bright yellow colonies that appear spiny due to the crown of long, thin sclerites of their polyps.
Colonies generally flattened (fan-shaped); often net-like or developing into dense, bushy shrubs. The branches appear thin and delicate. Polyps tall, cylindrical, covered with a spiny crown of strongly protruding, spiny sclerites embedded at the tentacle bases. They lie together over the folded tentacles, the protruding end of the sclerites is smooth. Polyps on all sides of the branches or in about two rows; standing perpendicular to the branch surface, acalycinous, not retractable. Coenchyme between the branches mostly thin, axis translucent. Sclerites in the polyps slender spindle-shaped, slightly curved, arranged in eight elongated double rows in a chevron pattern. Back of tentacles only with
The Cassidaigne Canyon (France) is polluted with huge amounts of bauxite residue from an aluminum factory inland, covering deep gorgonians (Acanthogorgia hirsuta) with red mud and showing clear signs of tissue necrosis and mud deposits.
In the Malta region, this species has been observed together with Madrepora oculata and Leiopathes glaberrima (Deidun pers. obs.) along rocky ridges, while in Corsica it has been observed in association with Dendrobrachia bonsai and Muriceides lepida (López-González and Cunha 2010, Sartoretto 2012).
A rich fauna of invertebrates has been found in association with this species, although probably not always in a strictly symbiotic relationship (Bourcier and Zibrowius 1972, Carpine and Grasshoff 1975).
Unusually high concentrations of Cu, Cd, Zn, and Co were found in specimens of Acanthogorgia hirsuta from the Azores, suggesting that this species is capable of absorbing these elements in connection with natural hydrothermal activity (Raimundo 2013).
Synonym:
Acanthogorgia horrida Studer, 1890 · unaccepted > junior subjective synonym
Acanthogorgia truncata Studer, 1890 · unaccepted > junior subjective synonym
Paramuricea hirsuta (Gray, 1857) · unaccepted > superseded combination
Our special thanks go to Dr. Marzia Bo, who sent us an exception of this rarely photographed coral!
