Palmate sea fan at North Fan Reef DSC09255

Gorgoniidae is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

of soft corals, a member of the subclass

Octocorallia Octocorallia (also known as Alcyonaria) is a class of Anthozoa comprising around 3,000 species of water-based organisms formed of colonial polyps with 8-fold symmetry. It includes the blue coral, soft corals, sea pens, and gorgonians (sea fans ...

in the phylum

Cnidaria Cnidaria () is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic animals found both in freshwater and marine environments, predominantly the latter. Their distinguishing feature is cnidocytes, specialized cells that ...

. Nearly all the genera and species are native to the east and west coasts of America.

Characteristics

Originally the members of the family Gorgoniidae included a much wider range of genera than it does now and was used for all of the horny Octocorallia. Now it is restricted to those species where the "

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an ad ...

spicule Spicules are any of various small needle-like anatomical structures occurring in organisms Spicule may also refer to: *Spicule (sponge), small skeletal elements of sea sponges *Spicule (nematode), reproductive structures found in male nematodes ( ...

s are less than 0.3 mm. in length, sculptured with regularly disposed girdles of complicated tubercles ('warts'), the anthocodiae are relatively unarmed, at most with but a few characteristically shaped flat rods en chevron beneath each tentacle, the horny axial cylinder is weakly loculated if at all, and is perforated by a relatively narrow, chambered central chord, and in which the branchlets are usually quite slender, with a thin cortex.''" The polyps are retractable and the stems have an axis of the protein

gorgonin Gorgonin is a complex protein that makes up the horny skeleton of the ''holaxonia'' suborder of gorgonians. It frequently contains appreciable quantities of bromine, iodine, and tyrosine. Scientific use Research has shown that measurements of the ...

surrounding a narrow, hollow, cross-chambered central core. Molecular phylogenetic analyses undertaken suggest that the family is

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of conver ...

. The main feature which separates the members of the different genera is the degree and type of spiculation. Other diagnostic features include the pattern of branching and the morphology of the whole colony. There is an increase in complexity from unbranched whip forms, open branched forms, reticulate forms and the leafy frond forms which include by ''Phyllogorgia'' and ''Phycogorgia''. Many species of gorgoniids are native to warm waters around the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of America. Some genera, including '' Lophogorgia'', '' Leptogorgia'' and '' Eunicella'', have a more widespread distribution including the temperate eastern Atlantic, the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

. Certain species have strange canoe-shaped spicules and these are all found in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

Genera

The World Register of Marine Species list the following genera: *Genus '' Adelogorgia'' Bayer, 1958 *Genus '' Antillogorgia Bayer, 1951 *Genus '' Eugorgia'' Verrill, 1868 *Genus '' Eunicella'' Verrill, 1869 *Genus '' Filigorgia'' Stiasny, 1937 *Genus ''

Gorgonia ''Gorgonia'' is a genus of soft corals, sea fans in the family Gorgoniidae. Species The World Register of Marine Species lists these species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organi ...

'' Linnaeus, 1758 *Genus '' Guaiagorgia'' Grasshoff & Alderslade, 1997 *Genus '' Hicksonella'' Nutting, 1910 *Genus '' Leptogorgia'' Milne-Edwards, 1857 *Genus '' Olindagorgia'' Bayer, 1981 *Genus '' Pacifigorgia'' Bayer, 1951 *Genus '' Phycogorgia'' Milne Edwards & Haime, 1850 *Genus '' Phyllogorgia'' Milne Edwards & Haime, 1850 *Genus '' Pinnigorgia'' Grasshoff & Alderslade, 1997 *Genus '' Pseudopterogorgia'' Kükenthal, 1919 *Genus '' Pterogorgia'' Ehrenberg, 1834 *Genus '' Rumphella'' Bayer, 1955 *Genus '' Tobagogorgia'' Sanchez, 2007

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1168854 Holaxonia Cnidarian families