photo album of shallow-water octocorals

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A brief photo guide

to the shallow-water octocoralsof the Rowley Shoals,

Western Australia

Katharina Fabricius

Australian Institute of Marine Science

PMB 3, Townsville Q4810

Email: [email protected]

Report to the Department of Environment and Conservation,

Government of Western Australia.

January 2008



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Table 1: List of the families and genera found at the Rowley Shoals. P = Phototrophic taxa*, H = Heterotrophic taxa**.

Leather corals and

arborescent taxa

Phototroph/

Heterotroph

Gorgonians (sea

fans, sea whips)

Phototroph/

Heterotroph

Blue coral,

encrusting taxa and

taxa with large

polyps

Phototroph/

Heterotroph

Alcyoniidae Subergorgiidae Helioporidae P

Sinularia P Annella H Heliopora

Dampia P

Cladiella P Melithaeidae Clavulariidae P

Sarcophyton P Melithaea H Clavularia

Lobophytum P

Acanthogorgiidae

Nephtheidae Acanthogorgia H Xeniidae

Nephthea P Xenia P

Litophyton P Plexauridae

Stereonephthya P + H Euplexaura H BriareidaeScleronephthya H Echinogorgia H Briareum P

Dendronephthya H Menella H

Lemnalia P Astrogorgia H

Paralemnalia P

Gorgoniidae

Nidaliidae Rumphella P

Siphonogorgia H Hicksonella P

Chironephthya H

Ellisellidae

Ellisella H

Junceella P + H

* Taxa that contain zooxanthellae. ** Taxa that do not contain zooxanthellae



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Figure 1: Principal components analysis of Rowley Shoals octocoral communities. Each point represents the community recorded within a transect (points

close together having similar communities. (a) Colours identify transect depth; (b) same analysis as in (a), but here the colours are used to identify transect

location. Species vectors point at the communities (transects) where a species was best represented (species names are abbreviated to the first 5 letters).

Mean depth (m):

Dim 1: 33.46%

D i m

2 : 1 2 . 5

4 %

xenia

nepht

litop

stere

dendr

lemna

par.c

par.t

sipho

sinul

sin.f

sin.c

dampi

sarco

lobop

cladihelio

clavu

briar

annella

melit

acant

astgo

menelrumph

junce

25

1015

Mean depth (m):

Dim 1: 33.46%

D i m

2 : 1 2 . 5

4 %

xenia

nepht

litop

stere

dendr

lemna

par.c

par.t

sipho

sinul

sin.f

sin.c

dampi

sarco

lobop

cladihelio

clavu

briar

annella

melit

acant

astgo

menelrumph

junce

25

1015

Location:

xenia

nepht

litop

stere

dendr

lemna

par.c

par.t

sipho

sinul

sin.f

sin.c

dampi

sarco

lobop

cladihelio

clavu

briar

annella

melit

acant

astgo

menelrumph

junce

BackFlankFrontLagoonDim 1: 33.46%

D i m

2 : 1 2 . 5

4 %

Location:

xenia

nepht

litop

stere

dendr

lemna

par.c

par.t

sipho

sinul

sin.f

sin.c

dampi

sarco

lobop

cladihelio

clavu

briar

annella

melit

acant

astgo

menelrumph

junce

BackFlankFrontLagoonDim 1: 33.46%

D i m

2 : 1 2 . 5

4 %



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Table 2: Permutation test to assess the differences in octocoral communities depending on depth, location and reefs.

Figure 2: Taxonomic richness of octocorals (number of genera per transect) in relation to depth, location and reef.

df MS F Perm-P %SS

Depth 1 103.78 12.645 0.005 17.378

Location 3 16.76 2.042 0.005 8.418

Reef 2 12.29 1.497 0.065 4.115

Residuals 51 8.21 70.089

Depth (m) LocationReef

O c t o c o r a l r i c h n e s s ( g e n e r a p e r t r a n s e c t )

0

5

10

15

20

Clerke Imperieuse Mermaid

0

5

10

15

20

Back Flank Front Lagoon2 4 6 8 10 12 14

0

5

10

15

20

Depth (m) LocationReef

O c t o c o r a l r i c h n e s s ( g e n e r a p e r t r a n s e c t )

0

5

10

15

20

Clerke Imperieuse Mermaid

0

5

10

15

20

Back Flank Front Lagoon2 4 6 8 10 12 14

0

5

10

15

20



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“Leather corals” - octocorals related to Sarcophyton (family Alcyoniidae)



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Sinularia spp.



9

Dampia pocilloporaeformis



10

Cladiella spp.



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Lobophytum spp.



12

Sarcophyton spp.



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Arborescent octocorals related to Nephthea (families Nephtheidae and Nidaliidae)



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Nephthea spp.



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Litophyton spp.



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Stereonephthya spp.



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Scleronephthya spp.



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Dendronephthya spp.



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Lemnalia spp.



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Paralemnalia spp.



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Chironephthya spp.



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Siphonogorgia spp.



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Gorgonians, sea fans, and sea whips (families Subergorgiidae, Melithaeidae, Acanthogorgiidae,Plexauridae, Gorgoniidae, Ellisellidae)



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Annella spp.



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Melithaeidae



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Acanthogorgia spp.



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Euplexaura spp.



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Echinogorgia spp.



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Menella spp.



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Astrogorgia spp.



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Rumphella sp. 1

Hi k ll



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Hicksonella spp.



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Ellisella spp.



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Junceella spp.



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Other taxa: Blue coral, encrusting taxa, and taxa with large polyps (families Helioporidae,

Clavulariidae, Xeniidae, Briareidae)



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Heliopora coerulea (Blue coral)



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Clavularia sp. 1



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Xenia spp.



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Briareum sp. 1

photo album of shallow-water octocorals

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