''Dactylotrochus'' is a genus of large polyp
stony corals
Scleractinia, also called stony corals or hard corals, are marine animals in the phylum Cnidaria that build themselves a hard skeleton. The individual animals are known as polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by an oral disc in which a mo ...
from the Red Sea and western Pacific Ocean. It is
monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...
with a single species, ''Dactylotrochus cervicornis''.
[ It inhabits the deep sea and is believed to be azooxanthellate.
]
Description
Dactylotrochus cervicornis is a sturdy solitary coral with a short pedicel measuring 15 millimeters (0.6 in) in diameter and an encrusting base. The maximum size is in diameter and high.corallite
A corallite is the skeletal cup, formed by an individual stony coral polyp, in which the polyp sits and into which it can retract. The cup is composed of aragonite, a crystalline form of calcium carbonate, and is secreted by the polyp. Corallit ...
wall and septa
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five coun ...
develop more than others and two or more petal-like lobes grow, often recurving. The septa are very numerous; they are narrow except near the corallite wall and there is no central columella.
Taxonomy
This species was originally classified in the family Caryophylliidae
The Caryophylliidae are a family of stony corals found from the tropics to temperate seas, and from shallow to very deep water.
Genera
*'' Africana'' Ocana & Brito, 2015
*'' Anomocora'' Studer, 1878
*'' Asterosmilia'' Duncan, 1867
*'' Auloc ...
but phylogenetic
In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...
studies show that it should be included in Agariciidae
The Agariciidae are a family of reef-building stony corals. This family includes cactus corals, plate corals, and lettuce corals. Members of the family include symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae in their tissues which help provide their energ ...
, even though other members of this family are shallow water, colonial
Colonial or The Colonial may refer to:
* Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology)
Architecture
* American colonial architecture
* French Colonial
* Spanish Colonial architecture
Automobiles
* Colonial (1920 au ...
corals.[ The ancestor of the family was probably solitary and azooxanthellate, and such solitary fossil species as '' Trochoseris'' can now be better accommodated in this family.]
Distribution and habitat
''D. cervicornis'' is known from the Red Sea
The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...
and from various oceanic islands in the Indo-Pacific region; it occurs in Guam
Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
, Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
, Palau
Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...
, Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...
and Wallis and Futuna
Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands (; french: Wallis-et-Futuna or ', Fakauvea and Fakafutuna: '), is a French island collectivity in the South Pacific, situated between Tuvalu to the northwest, Fiji ...
, and also from the eastward slope of Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese: , , meaning "coconut place"), sometimes known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 1800s and 1946 is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. After the Second ...
and the Baie de Sandal in New Caledonia
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, map_alt = Location of New Caledonia
, map_caption = Location of New Caledonia
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...
.[ Its depth range is . It is not considered to be a ]hermatypic
Hermatypic corals are those corals in the order Scleractinia which build reefs by depositing hard calcareous material for their skeletons, forming the stony framework of the reef. Corals that do not contribute to coral reef development are referred ...
(reef building) coral.[
]
Biology
The polyp secretes the calcium carbonate from which the skeleton is built. It spreads its tentacle
In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, and elongated organ present in some species of animals, most of them invertebrates. In animal anatomy, tentacles usually occur in one or more pairs. Anatomically, the tentacles of animals work main ...
s to catch the plankton
Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...
on which it feeds and can also absorb dissolved organic matter from the water. Although this is assumed to be a solitary coral,[ new polyps can bud from the base.][
]
References
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q20804596, from2=Q3940613
Agariciidae
Animals described in 1881
Monotypic cnidarian genera
Scleractinia genera