''Leptogorgia sarmentosa'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of colonial

soft coral Alcyonacea, or soft corals, are an order of corals. In addition to the fleshy soft corals, the order Alcyonacea now contains all species previously known as "gorgonian corals", that produce a more or less hard skeleton, though quite different f ...

, a sea fan in the

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

Gorgoniidae Gorgoniidae is a family of soft corals, a member of the subclass Octocorallia in the phylum Cnidaria. Nearly all the genera and species are native to the east and west coasts of America. Characteristics Originally the members of the family G ...

. It is native to the eastern

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

and the western

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 ea ...

, with a single find in the eastern Mediterranean.

Description

''Leptogorgia sarmentosa'' forms a branching, tree-like structure that can grow to a height of . Although the branches are sometimes in a single plane, more commonly they emerge from the main stem in various directions. The terminal branchlets are very slender, either straight or slightly drooping. The sclerites which give rigidity to the soft tissues are dark red, translucent and needle-like. The colour of the

coenenchyme Coenenchyme is the common tissue that surrounds and links the polyps in octocorals. It consists of mesoglea penetrated by tubes (''solenia'') and canals of the gastrodermis and contains sclerites, microscopic mineralised spicules of silica or of ca ...

(the thin fleshy external covering) is usually orange but may instead be yellow, white, red or purple. The polyps are very small and are the same colour as the rest of the coral. They are arranged randomly around the branches. This species can be confused with ''

Eunicella verrucosa ''Eunicella verrucosa'', the broad sea fan, pink sea fan or warty gorgonian, is a species of colonial Gorgonian "soft coral" in the family Gorgoniidae. It is native to the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean and the western Mediterranean Sea. Descript ...

'' but that species has shorter more robust twigs and the coenenchyme is rough and warty.

Distribution and habitat

''Leptogorgia sarmentosa'' is found along the Atlantic coast of Europe and Africa between the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

and the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in the ...

, and in the western part of the Mediterranean Sea and the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...

. Its range in the Mediterranean has been extended by the discovery of a colony at Naxos in the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek language, Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish language, Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It ...

. It typically grows in the depth range on boulders lying on sandy areas of the seabed or on bedrock partially overlaid by soft sediment. It is found in a range of current velocities but particularly favours locations with strong water movement.

Biology

''Leptogorgia sarmentosa'' is a

suspension feeder Filter feeders are a sub-group of suspension feeding animals that feed by straining suspended matter and food particles from water, typically by passing the water over a specialized filtering structure. Some animals that use this method of feedin ...

. The polyps extend their tentacles to filter particles from the water flowing past the colony. The diet includes

zooplankton Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...

such as

dinoflagellate The dinoflagellates (Greek δῖνος ''dinos'' "whirling" and Latin ''flagellum'' "whip, scourge") are a monophyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes constituting the phylum Dinoflagellata and are usually considered algae. Dinoflagellates are ...

diatom A diatom (Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group comprising sev ...

s and

ciliate The ciliates are a group of alveolates characterized by the presence of hair-like organelles called cilia, which are identical in structure to flagellum, eukaryotic flagella, but are in general shorter and present in much larger numbers, with a ...

s as well as particles of organic

detritus In biology, detritus () is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts commun ...

. Colonies are either male or female. Sperm is released into the sea from male colonies and the eggs are fertilised internally inside the female colonies. The embryos develop at first in the gastric cavities of the polyps but are liberated as planula larvae which drift with the currents as part of 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 ...

for several weeks. When ready to undergo

metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some inse ...

they settle on suitable surfaces and develop into new polyps. The new colonies that form from these grow by budding new polyps. The branches grow at about per year.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2618587 Gorgoniidae Cnidarians of the Atlantic Ocean Fauna of the Mediterranean Sea Animals described in 1789 Taxa named by Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper