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The zooxanthellate scleractinian coral Oulastrea crispata (Lamarck, 1816), an overlooked newcomer in the Mediterranean Sea?

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The zooxanthellate scleractinian coral Oulastrea crispata (Lamarck, 1816), an overlooked newcomer in the Mediterranean Sea? (EN)
GARCÍA, MARÍA
GARRABOU, JOAQUIM
BALLESTEROS, ENRIC
LÓPEZ-SENDINO, PAULA
OCAÑA VICENTE, OSCAR
RICART, AURORA MARTÍNEZ
MARIANI, SIMONE
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
2018-11-23
The zooxanthellate scleractinian coral Oulastrea crispata, a widely distributed species across central Indo-Pacific nearshore marine habitats, has been first reported from the Mediterranean Sea (Corsica) in 2014. Here we report on two new sites for this species in the NW Mediterranean Sea and provide a general description of external morphological characters of the colonies and a detailed account of the cnidom to help future identifications. Living specimens may appear virtually identical to small colonies (~5 cm) of the Mediterranean zooxanthellate scleractinian Cladocora caespitosa. While this species shows long, ramified, independent corallites, with cylindrical calices, O. crispata has enlarged, cup-like calices, which can be joined by the coenosteum. It also shows clear differences among several groups of nematocysts, principally the presence in the filaments of large penicilli (p-mastigophore) of one type, which are absent in C. caespitosa. Identifications based on underwater observations or even the analysis of photographs may easily lead to misleading identifications. We hypothesize that O. crispata may have gone unnoticed because of misidentifications as C. caespitosa. More detailed research is needed to get reliable maps of the actual distribution of this apparently non-indigenous species in the Mediterranean Sea. (EN)
Zebra coral (EN)
Cladocora caespitosa (EN)
Oculina patagonica (EN)
marine habitats (EN)
non-indigenous species (EN)
Mediterranean Marine Science
English
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (EN)
1791-6763
1108-393X
Mediterranean Marine Science; Τόμ. 19 Αρ. 3 (2018); 589-597 (EL)
Mediterranean Marine Science; Vol. 19 No. 3 (2018); 589-597 (EN)
Copyright (c) 2018 Mediterranean Marine Science (EN)
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR)
Mediterranean Marine Science
Short Communication



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