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Occurrence of the azooxanthellate coral Phyllangia pequegnatae (Scleractinia: Caryophylliidae) in the Colombian Caribbean Sea: hidden diversity or another invasive species?

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Abstract

As part of a baseline biodiversity study of the marine fauna associated with the Marina of Puerto Velero (PVM) in the Colombian Caribbean, we record the presence of the azooxanthellate coral Phyllangia pequegnatae Cairns, 2000. This new record extends the geographic distribution of this species to the southwestern Caribbean and increases its bathymetric range to the shallow 0.3 m depth as this species was previously known between 48 and 112 m depth. The colony of P. pequegnatae consists of 15 corallites and it was collected from underneath one of the main docks (concrete). Images of live extended polyps and detailed corallite morphology illustrate the differences between the recorded species P. pequegnatae with respect to its congeneric Phyllangia americana americana Milne Edwards & Haime, 1849. We discussed two hypothetical scenarios for the occurrence of P. pequegnatae in the Colombian Caribbean: the expansion of the bathymetric range of a previously overlooked native species or its introduction via the fouling community of small vessels.

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Acknowledgements

This work is a contribution from Universidad del Atlántico (Colombia) “Geología, Geofísica y Procesos Marino-Costeros” research group. Thanks to Victor Sarmiento and Marina de Puerto Velero administration for permission to carry out this study. To Dr. Nelson Rangel-Buitrago for their assistance in the field. We acknowledge the valuable comments of three anonymous reviewers that helped to improve an early version of this manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the research group “Geología, Geofísica y Procesos Marino-Costeros” of the Universidad del Atlántico (Colombia).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programa de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad del Atlántico, km 7 vía Puerto Colombia, Atlántico, Colombia

    Jeferson Durán-Fuentes & Adriana Gracia C.

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK

    Nadiezhda Santodomingo

  3. Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Darwinweg 2, 2333, CR, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Nadiezhda Santodomingo

Authors
  1. Jeferson Durán-Fuentes
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  2. Adriana Gracia C.
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  3. Nadiezhda Santodomingo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeferson Durán-Fuentes.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

No animal testing was performed during this study.

Sampling and field studies

Colombian legal requirements to collect animals have been followed (ANLA Resolution No. 1214, September 29, 2017)

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Communicated by D. Huang

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Durán-Fuentes, J., Gracia C., A. & Santodomingo, N. Occurrence of the azooxanthellate coral Phyllangia pequegnatae (Scleractinia: Caryophylliidae) in the Colombian Caribbean Sea: hidden diversity or another invasive species?. Mar. Biodivers. 51, 34 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-021-01175-y

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