Four New Records of Holaxonia (Anthozoa: Octocorallia: Alcyonacea) from Korea

摘要

The four species of the suborder Holaxonia, Anthogorgia japonica Studer, 1889 of family Acanthogorgiidae, Astrogorgia rubra (Thomson & Henderson, 1906), Euplexaura attenuata (Nutting, 1910), and E. erecta (Kukenthal, 1908) of family Plexauridae have been newly recorded in Korea. They were collected from intertidal and sublittoral zones in the western and southern coasts and Jeju-do Island of Korea by SCUBA diving and fishing nets from 1969 to 2010. This study approaches holaxonians by focusing on external and internal morphologies including size, form, and color of colonies, branches, polyps, coenenchyme, axis, and spicules. Anthogorgia japonica is characterized by its planar growth form, dichotomously branched form, non-retractile polyps, and Astrogorgia rubra by arrangement of calyxes being situated in lateral side at stems and alternately in all sides at branches. Euplexaura attenuata is sparsely and laterally branched colony, and has straight wand-like stems. Euplexaura erecta has branches which run parallel to the main stem.