Peer Aquatic Biology
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The deep-water gorgonian Chrysogorgia fragilis has been found only on the Kocebu Guyot in the Magellan-Seamount chain in the South Pacific.
Colonies of the gorgonian settle on rocky substrate.
The holotype of the species was associated with an ovoid structure and the paratype with an individual of the crustacean genus Galathea Fabricius, 1793.
Water temperature was about 3.2 °C and salinity was about 35.8.
Chrysogorgia fragilis has a long, unbranched stem and a sympodial branching part.
The branches are dichotomously divided, up to the fifth order.
Polyps with broadened base and slender neck. Spines and spindles of polyp neck and tentacles long and coarse, with many tubercles on surface.
Scales at base of polyp body are elongate and thick, rarely branched, scales in coenenchyma flat and elongate with irregular margins.
The holotype was about 55 cm high, without the anchorage, the colony had a tree-shaped body consisting of a sympodial branched part at the apex and a fragile, slender and unbranched stalk about 35.5 cm long and 1.5 mm in diameter at the base.
The surface of the stem is almost smooth with some scars and a metallic sheen, sometimes covered with a pink mucous membrane.
The branched part showed a slight zigzag pattern in the upper part.
The branches are dichotomously divided, almost perpendicular to the axis, most of them broken off after collection.
Polyps have long neck and expanded body base, 2-4 mm long, 1-2 mm wide at base, with neck up to two mm long and less than one mm wide.
Up to two polyps are distributed on the first internodes, two to four in the middle internodes, up to ten in the terminal branches.
Golden eggs present in the expanded body bases. Polyps pink immediately after collection, color gradually fading in alcohol.
Paratype specimen had 5 cm height with unbranched stem about 35 cm long and one mm diameter at base. The branched part is relatively longer and more zigzag.
Etymology. The Latin adjective "fragilis" (fragile) refers to the fragile stem and branches of the species.
Literature reference:
Xu Y, Zhan Z, Xu K. 2020.
Morphology and molecular phylogeny of three new deep-sea species of Chrysogorgia (Cnidaria, Octocorallia) from seamounts in the tropical Western Pacific Ocean.
PeerJ 8:e8832 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8832
Colonies of the gorgonian settle on rocky substrate.
The holotype of the species was associated with an ovoid structure and the paratype with an individual of the crustacean genus Galathea Fabricius, 1793.
Water temperature was about 3.2 °C and salinity was about 35.8.
Chrysogorgia fragilis has a long, unbranched stem and a sympodial branching part.
The branches are dichotomously divided, up to the fifth order.
Polyps with broadened base and slender neck. Spines and spindles of polyp neck and tentacles long and coarse, with many tubercles on surface.
Scales at base of polyp body are elongate and thick, rarely branched, scales in coenenchyma flat and elongate with irregular margins.
The holotype was about 55 cm high, without the anchorage, the colony had a tree-shaped body consisting of a sympodial branched part at the apex and a fragile, slender and unbranched stalk about 35.5 cm long and 1.5 mm in diameter at the base.
The surface of the stem is almost smooth with some scars and a metallic sheen, sometimes covered with a pink mucous membrane.
The branched part showed a slight zigzag pattern in the upper part.
The branches are dichotomously divided, almost perpendicular to the axis, most of them broken off after collection.
Polyps have long neck and expanded body base, 2-4 mm long, 1-2 mm wide at base, with neck up to two mm long and less than one mm wide.
Up to two polyps are distributed on the first internodes, two to four in the middle internodes, up to ten in the terminal branches.
Golden eggs present in the expanded body bases. Polyps pink immediately after collection, color gradually fading in alcohol.
Paratype specimen had 5 cm height with unbranched stem about 35 cm long and one mm diameter at base. The branched part is relatively longer and more zigzag.
Etymology. The Latin adjective "fragilis" (fragile) refers to the fragile stem and branches of the species.
Literature reference:
Xu Y, Zhan Z, Xu K. 2020.
Morphology and molecular phylogeny of three new deep-sea species of Chrysogorgia (Cnidaria, Octocorallia) from seamounts in the tropical Western Pacific Ocean.
PeerJ 8:e8832 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8832
