Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory (HURL), Hawaii, USA
Info
Chrysogorgia geniculata is a deep-sea horn coral that forms a bottlebrush colony and moves back and forth with the movement of the water, trapping organic particles.
The colony studied was found attached to a rocky substrate in the Caroline Ridge, 993 in the Caroline Ridge, in the Western Pacific, at a depth of 993 meters.
The bottlebrush-shaped coral had a slightly curved stalk, about 19 cm long and a maximum width of 4.5 cm.
The stalk, without a holding structure, was about 2 mm in diameter at the base, with an aeruginous metallic sheen on the underside and brown discoloration in the upper part.
The branches were dichotomously divided, up to eight orders with a branching angle of 70°-110°.
The distance between adjacent branches is 3-4 mm, the polyps are on average 2 mm high and 1 mm wide with a strong constriction at the base of the tentacular part.
The polyps are usually arranged singly on the first internode of the branch and on each internode of the stalk, singly or in pairs in the middle internodes and up to twice in the terminal branches.
The Tentacular part is 1.0-1.5 mm long and 1.0 mm wide with eight distinct tentacles.
In the coenenchyma, scales are arranged longitudinally and densely, slender and thick with irregular and lobed margins, usually with many large oval or irregular tubercles and more or less fine and large tubercles, occasionally almost smooth.
Synonym: Dasygorgia geniculata Wright & Studer, 1889 · unaccepted > superseded combination (original combination)
The colony studied was found attached to a rocky substrate in the Caroline Ridge, 993 in the Caroline Ridge, in the Western Pacific, at a depth of 993 meters.
The bottlebrush-shaped coral had a slightly curved stalk, about 19 cm long and a maximum width of 4.5 cm.
The stalk, without a holding structure, was about 2 mm in diameter at the base, with an aeruginous metallic sheen on the underside and brown discoloration in the upper part.
The branches were dichotomously divided, up to eight orders with a branching angle of 70°-110°.
The distance between adjacent branches is 3-4 mm, the polyps are on average 2 mm high and 1 mm wide with a strong constriction at the base of the tentacular part.
The polyps are usually arranged singly on the first internode of the branch and on each internode of the stalk, singly or in pairs in the middle internodes and up to twice in the terminal branches.
The Tentacular part is 1.0-1.5 mm long and 1.0 mm wide with eight distinct tentacles.
In the coenenchyma, scales are arranged longitudinally and densely, slender and thick with irregular and lobed margins, usually with many large oval or irregular tubercles and more or less fine and large tubercles, occasionally almost smooth.
Synonym: Dasygorgia geniculata Wright & Studer, 1889 · unaccepted > superseded combination (original combination)
