NOAA Okeanos Explorer
Info
In 2012, this deep-sea gorgonian Calyptrophora diaphana was discovered around the Coromandel Peninsula and Seamount east of Three Kings, New Zealand, in a depth range of 680-990 meters.
The holotype, half of a colony, was 24cm tall, the main stem was 3.5cm in diameter, and the paratype was 55cm tall with stiff branches whose axes were straw yellow.
All polyps of the colony were downward facing.
Only three other species of Calyptrophora have downward facing polyps (Calyptrophora wyvillei, Calyptrophora agassizii, and Calyptrophora clinata).
Other colonies were discovered in 2017 at 1100 meters depth south of Wake and outside Orona Atoll, the second largest atoll in the Kiribati Phoenix Islands at 1225 meters depth.
Various invertebrates were found on the colonies, see photos from NOAA Okeanos Explorer.
The species name " diaphana" is of Neo-Latin origin and means "transparent, translucent or diaphanous", an allusion to the thin scales of the body wall and the translucent shell (see Figure 40 of the description in https://docs.niwa.co.nz/library/public/NBM-126.pdf).
Similar species: Calyptrophora lyra Cairns, 2018
The holotype, half of a colony, was 24cm tall, the main stem was 3.5cm in diameter, and the paratype was 55cm tall with stiff branches whose axes were straw yellow.
All polyps of the colony were downward facing.
Only three other species of Calyptrophora have downward facing polyps (Calyptrophora wyvillei, Calyptrophora agassizii, and Calyptrophora clinata).
Other colonies were discovered in 2017 at 1100 meters depth south of Wake and outside Orona Atoll, the second largest atoll in the Kiribati Phoenix Islands at 1225 meters depth.
Various invertebrates were found on the colonies, see photos from NOAA Okeanos Explorer.
The species name " diaphana" is of Neo-Latin origin and means "transparent, translucent or diaphanous", an allusion to the thin scales of the body wall and the translucent shell (see Figure 40 of the description in https://docs.niwa.co.nz/library/public/NBM-126.pdf).
Similar species: Calyptrophora lyra Cairns, 2018
