Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India

Occurrence of Pteroeides esperi (Octocorallia: Pennatulacea: Pennatulidae) along the coast of Andhra Pradesh, India

Volume 64 Issue 2

P. R. Behera, M. A. Jishnudev and S. Ghosh

10.6024/jmbai.2022.64.2.2330-18

Abstract

Pteroeides esperi belonging to the family Pennatulidae is distributed in the Indo-West Pacific Ocean. In the present study, five specimens were collected from the landings of commercial multiday trawler operated at the depth of 30-40 m along the coast of Andhra Pradesh, Bay of Bengal. These specimens were characterized by the presence of cone-shaped colony, needle-like sclerites of the polyp leave forming rays, rod-shaped sclerites in rachis and length of peduncle less than half of the length of the colony. Therefore, based on the morphological description and sclerite details, these specimens were identified as P. esperi. This report represents the first formal record of the species in the coastal waters of Andhra Pradesh.

Keywords

Sea pen, pennatulidae, sclerites, western Bay of Bengal

Date : 24-08-2022