Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 October 2024 | 16(10): 26007–26012
ISSN 0974-7907
(Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8256.16.10.26007-26012
#8256 | Received 03 November 2022 | Final received 02 September 2024 |
Finally accepted 19 September 2024
Bits and fragments: documenting
an unreported coral genus Heterocyathus Milne
Edwards & Haime, 1848 from northwestern Bay of
Bengal (Odisha coast) and a call for further assessment
Durga Prasad Behera 1 & Rocktim
Ramen Das 2
1 Department of Marine Sciences,
Berhampur University, Berhampur, Odisha 760007, India.
1 Gujarat Institute of Desert
Ecology, Bhuj-Kachchh, Gujarat 370040, India.
2 Graduate School of Engineering
and Science, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara 903-0213, Okinawa, Japan.
1 behera.guide@gmail.com, 2 asomorlora@gmail.com
(corresponding author)
Editor: R. Ravinesh,
Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology, Ministry of Earth Sciences,
Cochin, India. Date of
publication: 26 October 2024 (online & print)
Citation:
Behera, D.P. & R.R. Das (2024). Bits and fragments: documenting an
unreported coral genus Heterocyathus Milne
Edwards & Haime, 1848 from northwestern
Bay of Bengal (Odisha coast) and a call for further assessment. Journal of Threatened Taxa 16(10):
26007–26012. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8256.16.10.26007-26012
Copyright: © Behera & Das 2024. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: Self funded.
Author details: Durga Prasad Behera is currently a scientist at Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology, India. He is interested in exploring coastal and marine biodiversity. Rocktim Ramen Das is a recent graduate from University of the Ryukyus, Japan and in a broader context interested in coral reef health and sponge ecology.
Author contributions: DPB: Writing, reviewing and editing, Specimen collection, Validation, Conceptualization; RRD: Writing original draft, reviewing and editing; Conceptualization, Validation.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The authors are thankful to Dr.
Stephen D. Cairns (Smithsonian Institution, USA) and prof. Michel Pichon
(Museum of Tropical Queensland, Australia) for their various advice relating to
species identification and taxonomic terms.
Abstract: The collection of a dead specimen
of the coral Heterocyathus cf. sulcatus on a sandy beach in southern Odisha
highlights the importance of exploring offshore waters along this coast. The
specimen was identified based on prominent taxonomic characters and association
with coral boring worm. This genus was previously known to occur along the
eastern coast of India, from the Gulf of Mannar/Palk
Bay and off the Chennai coast. The presence of rocky offshore outcrops and a
sandy substratum in the vicinity suggests that the specimen likely originated
from that location.
Keywords: Caryophillidae, coral reefs, habitat, new
record, rocky offshore, sandy beach, taxonomic characters.
Abbreviations: EBRC—The Estuarine Biology
Regional Centre | ZSI—Zoological Survey of India.
Introduction
The family Caryophylliidae
Dana, 1846 under which Heterocyathus
originates has the highest diversity of species (>300) worldwide (Cairns
1999a,b; Reyes 2009). This azooxanthellate/apozooxanthellate genus is free-living, preferring a sandy
substratum (Hoeksema & Best 1991; DeVantier et
al. 2006) and occurs near offshore patchy reefs as seen in Sulawesi (Hoeksema
1990; Hoeksema & Best 1991). Found at a depth ranging from 0 to around 320
m (FAO 2011), it has also been reported beyond 500 m (Cairns 1999b). The genus
consists of seven valid species: H. aequicostatus
Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848; H. alternatus Verrill, 1865; H.
antoniae Reyes, Santodomingo
& Cairns, 2009; H. hemisphaericus Gray,
1849; H. japonicus Verill, 1866; H. monileseptatum Filander & Kitahara,
2021; and H. sulcatus Verrill,
1866. H. sulcatus,
H. aequicostatus, and H. alternatus have been reported from Indian waters (Alcock 1893; CMFRI 1970; Pillai 1983; Venkataraman 2007).
Unique characters for species level distinction include the arrangement and
lateral projection of septa, and coloration patterns (Reyes et al. 2009). The genus can be seen associated with the polychaete worm Aspidosiphon
muelleri Diesing,
1851 (Hoeksema & Best 1991; Stolarski et al.
2001). It is important to note that all the three species reported from Indian
waters are under the ‘Least Concern’ category of the IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species (2018).
In this paper our main objectives
are to: (1) report the observation of an unreported coral genus (Heterocyathus) from the northwestern coast of Bay of
Bengal (Odisha) and (2) emphasize the need to explore the offshore waters of
the coast.
Material
and Methods
The Gopalpur
coast (Figure 1), the point of origin for this specimen is located within the
southern part of Odisha State. It is known for its tourism and fishing
activities involving trawlers and small fishing boats (Mahapatro
et al. 2015; Behera et al. 2017a,b). The area
comprises of various creeks, rivers, and the Chilika
lagoon in its vicinity. Off the coast lies a submerged ridge which runs
parallel to the Gopalpur coast extending further till
Andhra Pradesh (see Bapuji et al. 1999; Rao et al.
2001). The area is also highly exposed to tropical cyclones that originate from
the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea (Figure 1).
During a regular field visit, a
single dead specimen of the non-reef building Indo-pacific scleractinian
genus Heterocyathus was observed on the
sandy beach. The specimen was documented for further taxonomic identification.
The specimen was identified based on its morphological characters following Stolarski et al. (2001), Reyes et al. (2009), and Cairns
& Kitahara (2012). Morphological measurements
were taken in the field with a digital Vernier caliper and were later
reassessed with ImageJ v1.51. Study map was created using QGis
3.0. The stacked bar chart was created using R programming software version
4.0.5 (2021-03-31), using the packages “ggplot2” and “tidyverse”
(Wickham 2016; Wickham et al. 2019).
Results
and Discussion
Systematics
Phylum Cnidaria Verrill, 1865
Class Anthozoa Ehrenberg, 1834
Order Scleractinia
Bourne, 1900
Family Caryophylliidae
Dana, 1846
Genus Heterocyathus Milne
Edwards & Haime, 1848
Heterocyathus cf. sulcatus
(Image 1)
Material Examined: One dead specimen washed ashore
observed on 25 February 2016, Gopalpur coast (19.2506N,
85.9013E), southern Odisha, obs. by: Durga Prasad
Behera. Deposited at EBRC/ZSI/Cn – 11146.
Description: Corallum solitary, unattached, globular
with commensal sipunculid derived pores (polyporous type of corallum
modification), theca non-porous, imperforate. Calicular
Diameter 7.21 mm, height 5.81 mm with a base diameter of 7.43 x 6.93 mm. Dark
brownish to blackish colour prominent in the central
region of calices. Four sipunculid derived basal
holes present: two in the center and one each on the left and right
respectively. The right most hole is the main orifice (diameter 0.99 mm) (Image
1C). A thin and smooth layer observed on the interior surface of the main
orifice. Three additional holes are in the intercostal furrows of the theca
(Image 1B). The base consists of uneven granules resulting in an uneven
texture. Coastae prominent, extends till the base with
height significantly reduced. Accurate description of lateral septal projection
not possible as the specimen is worn out.
Remarks: The genus Heterocyathus
has close similarity with genus Heteropsammia
Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848; however,
the latter bears a perforated theca with prominent coastae
absent. Our specimen is believed to be H. sulcatus
(Verrill 1866) due to the similar colouration pattern in the central portion of the calices.
The height of our specimen also closely correlates with the original
description of H. sulcatus which was initially
described as Stephanoseris sulcata Verrill, 1866 from
Sri Lanka (see. Verill 1866).
Distribution: Indian waters – The genus is
reported from Andaman & Nicobar Islands (Alcock
1893; Pillai 1983; GBIF 2023); off Chennai coast (Tamil Nadu) (Venkataraman
2007), Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay (CMFRI 1970;
Pillai 1983), and off the coast of Mumbai (Maharashtra), Gujarat, and Kerala
(GBIF 2023). Elsewhere – Pacific and Indian Ocean (Vanuatu and Wallis &
Futuna, Tuscarora bank, Waterwitch bank, Tanna, Erromango, Efate,
southeastern Espiritu Santo, northeastern Espiritu Santo, Anatom)
(Cairns 1999b), Great Barrier Reef (Devantier et al.
2006), Japan (Until Northern Honshu), Taiwan (Yabe & Eguchi
1932; Zibrowius 1998), Indonesia (Hoeksema & Best
1991), South China Sea (Renlin & Xilian 1983), Gulf of Thailand (Hoeksema & Matthews
2015), Sri Lanka (MOE 2012), Pakistan (Moazzam & Moazzam 2016), Persian
Gulf (Maghsoudlou 2010), Seychelles, Coast of Africa
(GBIF 2023), Gulf of California, western coast of Mexico (Zibrowius
1998; Reyes-Bonilla & Cruz-Piñón 2000), and
northeastern Caribbean coast (Reyes 2009).
A
review of the literature indicates that there are few published papers which
have tried to explore the coral reef or its associated faunal diversity off the
coast of Odisha (Bapuji et al. 1999; Rao et al. 2001;
Jayaprakash & Radhakrishnan 2014), it has not been highlighted in most of
the coral reef literature present due to this limited knowledge (e.g., Pillai
1996; Muley et al. 2000; Rajasuriya et al. 2000;
Venkataraman & Wafar 2005; Tamelander
& Rajasuriya et al. 2008). Recent observation of
coral reef indicating fishes and coral fragments off Konark coast (Figure 1b)
and the report of the presence of Gorgonia ventalina Linnaeus, 1758 (a protected species) off Puri coast (Figure 1b) (Odishatv
2016; De et al. 2017) have created much interest among the coral reef
researchers in the country. This indicates that coastal waters of southern
Odisha might not be the only place with the presence of a patchy reef.
Therefore, more focus on the lack of survey efforts to explore the ecology of
the submerged ridge should be stressed upon.
Our observation lies
perpendicular to the rocky outcrop, which is divided into two segments. The rocky outcrop with a length of
approximately 14 km extends from Gopalpur to further
south with an elevation of 3–5 km spread across 150–250 m (Bapuji
et al. 1999; Rao et al. 2001). The faunal diversity of both the segments has
been highlighted in Figure 2. Though regarded as a preliminary observation by
the authors, follow-up studies do not exist. Recent reports indicate the
presence of reefs off Konark and Puri (~100+ km) is
also limited to non-scientific reports. Recently, Behera et al. (2017a),
mentioned these rocky outcrops and their fauna based on previous literature,
but the author’s finding was more related to fish rather than corals. Based on
our knowledge on the region, we can hypothesize that the north-west–south-east
ridge and the sandy substratum in its vicinity can act as a good habitat for
solitary coral species and might contain more undocumented aggregation of
free-living corals which can in fact be the original source of our present
observation. The vulnerability of the coast to frequent cyclones could also be
the cause of the specimen being washed ashore as observed in other Indian reefs
affected by cyclones (Krishnan et al. 2012).
Conclusion
Till recently, the ahermatypic/apozooxanthellate
corals have received less attention in this part of the world (Venkataraman et
al. 2003; Venkataraman & Wafar 2005) but various
recent reports indicate the possibility of undocumented species (see.
Venkataraman 2007; Raghuraman & Raghunathan 2015;
Tenjing et al. 2019). Our observation indicates that
we know very little about the offshore waters of Odisha and builds further
evidence that many corals, reef-associated sedentary or mobile species remain
undocumented in the region. Reporting a genus or a species significantly
improves our knowledge regarding its distribution and range. Still, our
observation will remain a mere testimony if its habitat and surrounding
ecosystem is not studied further. Thus, we communicate our findings to
stimulate interest and motivate future scientific endeavors.
For
figures & image - - click here for full PDF
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