Genus Errina Gray, 1835

Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem (VME) Taxa Classification Guide

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• Errina Gray, J.E. 1835. Characters of two new genera of corals (Errina and Anthopora). Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (3): 85-86 [85].

Introduction

Errina is listed as a Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem indicator taxon. Deep sea reefs are often dominated by a single structural genus and Errina has been identified as a structural component of Antarctic reefs. Three circum-Antarctic species of Errina, E. fissurata Gray, 1872, E. laterorifa Eguchi, 1964, E. antarctica (Gray, 1872), have been collected in the Australian Antarctic Territory (Bax & Cairns, 2014).

Errina fissurata is normally the dominant coral component of the Errina assemblages. However, it is often collected with another orange species, E. laterorifa, and on occasion a white morphotype representing either Inferiolabiata labiata, or E. gracilis (Bax pers. obs.). E. fissurata and E. laterorifa are morphologically similar and often occur in sympatry (Cairns, 1983a, 1983b). These species have very few morphological characters to differentiate them from one another without detailed microscopic examination, and even then some confusion can remain depending on the quality of the preserved sample (Bax pers. obs.). Errina species have been identified as bi-mineralic by Cairns & MacIntyre (1992), with some species containing mostly calcite, while some contain mostly aragonite. Most of the field-forming species in Antarctica have a calcite mineralogy (Cairns & MacIntyre, 1992; Riddle pers. com.).

Distribution

Other Regions

Australian Antarctic Territory

Distribution References

Ecological Descriptors

Hydroid and medusa stages: colonial (host(s): polychaete worm; Pedicularia sea snail).

General References

Bax N.N. & Cairns, S.D. 2014. Stylasteridae (Cnidaria; Hydrozoa). pp. 107 - 112 in De Broyer, C., Koubbi, P., Griffiths, H.J., Raymond, B., Udekem d'Acoz, C., Van de Putte, A.P., Danis, B., David, B., Grant, S., Gutt, J., Held, C., Hosie, G., Huettmann, F., Post, A. & Ropert-Coudert, Y. (eds.). Biogeographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean. Cambridge : Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research 498 pp.

Cairns, S.D. 1983a. A generic revision of the Stylasterina (Coelenterata: Hydrozoa). Part 1. Description of the genera. Bulletin of Marine Science 33(2): 427-508

Cairns, S.D. 1983b. Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic Stylasterina (Coelenterata: Hydrozoa). Antarctic Research Series 38: 61-164

Cairns, S.D. & MacIntyre, I.G. 1992. Phylogenetic implications of calcium carbonate mineralogy in the Stylasteridae (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa). Palaios 7: 96 – 107

Eguchi, M. 1964. A study of Stylasterina from the Antarctic Sea. JARE Scientific Reports Series E 20: 100

Gray, J.E. 1872. Notes on the corals from the South and Antarctic seas. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1872: 744-747

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