First record of the deep sea species Thesea talismani Grasshoff, 1986 (Anthozoa: Octocorallia: Plexauridae) off Mauritania (NW Africa)

Event Abstract Back to Event First record of the deep sea species Thesea talismani Grasshoff, 1986 (Anthozoa: Octocorallia: Plexauridae) off Mauritania (NW Africa) Susana Soto De Matos-Pita1, 2*, Iris Sampaio3, 4, Sara Castillo Oñate1, 2, André Freiwald4 and Fran Ramil1 1 Universidad de Vigo, Departamento de Ecología y Biología Animal, Spain 2 Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo, Spain 3 Universidade dos Açores & Centro de Ciências do Mar e do Ambiente, Departamento de Oceanografia e Pescas, Portugal 4 Senckenberg am Meer, Abteilung Meeresforschung, Germany The sea fan Thesea talismani is a rare deep sea species that was previously only known from the type material, namely one fragment of a colony designated as holotype, which was collected at 956 m depth off Larache (Morocco), and one colony 12 cm height designated as paratype, captured at 888 m off Cap Barbas (Western Sahara) (Grasshoff, 1986). We report here the species for the first time after its original description, based on some specimens captured during the Spanish Maurit surveys and the German cruise MSM16/3, both carried out in waters off Mauritania by the years 2009 and 2010. The samples were collected with a beam trawl and a rock dredge during the Spanish Maurit-0911 and Maurit-1011 surveys, and with a grab, a box corer and also directly with a Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) during the German cruise MSM16/3. High resolution images, both photography and video recording were also obtained by the ROV. The species was collected between 462 and 1090 m depth and seems associated to coral carbonate mounds and canyon habitats. Our colonies mostly agree with the original description although some intraspecific differences were observed. Most of the colonies match with the type material in size (10–15 cm) and in the ramification pattern with branches up to the second order. In addition, some simple, unbranched colonies were also collected, one of them reaching 30 cm with the distal part devoid of coenenchyme. Sclerite types are similar to those described for the type material although coenenchyme sclerites distribution and abundance vary between the different colonies. References Grasshoff, M. 1986. Die Gorgonaria der Expeditionen von Travailleur 1880-1882 und Talisman 1883 (Cnidaria, Anthozoa). Bulletin du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, (4) 8 (A 1): 9-38. Keywords: Cnidaria, Octocorallia, sea fan, NW Africa, Mauritania, deep-sea Conference: XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies, Porto, Portugal, 5 Sep - 9 Sep, 2016. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: 1. ECOLOGY, BIODIVERSITY AND VULNERABLE ECOSYSTEMS Citation: Soto De Matos-Pita S, Sampaio I, Castillo Oñate S, Freiwald A and Ramil F (2016). First record of the deep sea species Thesea talismani Grasshoff, 1986 (Anthozoa: Octocorallia: Plexauridae) off Mauritania (NW Africa). Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies. doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2016.05.00125 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 30 Apr 2016; Published Online: 03 Sep 2016. * Correspondence: Dr. Susana Soto De Matos-Pita, Universidad de Vigo, Departamento de Ecología y Biología Animal, Vigo, Pontevedra, 36310, Spain, soto@uvigo.es Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Susana Soto De Matos-Pita Iris Sampaio Sara Castillo Oñate André Freiwald Fran Ramil Google Susana Soto De Matos-Pita Iris Sampaio Sara Castillo Oñate André Freiwald Fran Ramil Google Scholar Susana Soto De Matos-Pita Iris Sampaio Sara Castillo Oñate André Freiwald Fran Ramil PubMed Susana Soto De Matos-Pita Iris Sampaio Sara Castillo Oñate André Freiwald Fran Ramil Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.