Acabaria
| Acabaria | |
|---|---|
 | |
| The multicoloured sea fan, Acabaria rubra | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Cnidaria |
| Class: | Anthozoa |
| Subclass: | Octocorallia |
| Order: | Alcyonacea |
| Suborder: | Scleraxonia |
| Family: | Melithaeidae |
| Genus: | Acabaria Gray, 1859 |
| Species: | see text |
Acabaria is a genus of corals in the family Melithaeidae.[1] Members of the genus are found in tropical waters in the Indo-Pacific. The type species is Acabaria divaricata.[2]
Description
Members of the genus Clathraria are arborescent colonial corals forming fans or bushes. The axis or main skeletal "trunk" is jointed, there being nodes, flexible horny joints, separated by internodes composed of hard, calcareous material. The branches divide off at the nodes which are often swollen. The minute calcareous spicules in the flexible membrane called the mesoglea that covers the skeleton are called sclerites. The identity of these spicules is important for identification purposes and in this genus they are predominantly spindles. In the corallites, the cups surrounding the polyps, the sclerites are clubs. Members of this genus do not have the unicellular symbiotic algae Zooxanthellae in their tissues that many other corals do. Colonies vary in colour but tend to be white or shades of yellow, ochre, orange, pink and brown.[2]
Species
Species in the genus include:
- Acabaria amboinensis Hentschel, 1903
- Acabaria andamanensis van Ofwegen, 1987
- Acabaria australis (Gray, 1868)
- Acabaria baladea Grasshoff, 1999
- Acabaria bicolor (Nutting, 1911)
- Acabaria biserialis Kükenthal, 1908
- Acabaria capensis (Studer, 1878)
- Acabaria cinquemiglia Grasshoff, 1999
- Acabaria confusum Moroff, 1902
- Acabaria corymbosa Kükenthal, 1908
- Acabaria dakini Thorpe, 1928
- Acabaria delicata Hickson, 1940
- Acabaria divaricata Gray, 1859
- Acabaria erythraea (Ehrenberg, 1834)
- Acabaria flabellum (Thomson & Mackinnon, 1910)
- Acabaria formosa Nutting, 1911
- Acabaria formosum Moroff, 1902
- Acabaria fragilis Wright & Studer, 1889
- Acabaria frondosa (Brundin, 1896)
- Acabaria furcata (Thomson, 1916)
- Acabaria gracillima (Ridley, 1884)
- Acabaria haddoni Hickson, 1937
- Acabaria harbereri Kükenthal, 1908
- Acabaria hicksoni Nutting, 1911
- Acabaria japonica (Verrill, 1865)
- Acabaria kuea Grasshoff, 1999
- Acabaria laevis Wright & Studer, 1889
- Acabaria modesta Kükenthal, 1908
- Acabaria nuttingi Hickson, 1937
- Acabaria ouvea Grasshoff, 1999
- Acabaria philippinensis (Wright & Studer, 1889)
- Acabaria planoregularis Kükenthal, 1909
- Acabaria pulchra Hickson, 1937
- Acabaria ramulosa Kükenthal, 1909
- Acabaria robusta (Shann, 1912)
- Acabaria rubeola (Wright & Studer, 1889)
- Acabaria rubra Esper, 1789
- Acabaria serrata Ridley, 1884
- Acabaria sinaica Grasshoff, 2000
- Acabaria splendens (Thomson & McQueen, 1908)
- Acabaria squarrosa Kükenthal, 1909
- Acabaria tenuis Kükenthal, 1908
- Acabaria triangulata Nutting, 1911
- Acabaria undulata Kükenthal, 1908
- Acabaria valdiviae Kükenthal, 1908
- Acabaria variabilis (Hickson, 1905)
References
- ↑ http://marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=205698 accessed 28 June 2011
- 1 2 Genus Acabaria Marine Species Identification Portal. Retrieved 2012-02-22.