Gersemia

Gersemia
Gersemia antarctica
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Anthozoa
Order: Alcyonacea
Family: Nephtheidae
Genus: Gersemia
Marenzeller, 1877 [1]
Species
See text

Gersemia is a genus of soft corals in the family Nephtheidae. Species in this genus are found in cold temperate and polar seas at depths ranging from 20 metres (66 ft) to over 2,000 metres (6,600 ft). The type species is Gersemia loricata.

Characteristics

Colonies of Gersemia are arborescent, growing erectly with one main stem. The polyps are most numerous at the branch tips and are unable to retract into the calyces. The walls of the stalk and branches are stiffened with sclerites which are often brightly coloured. Corals in this genus do not contain zooxanthellae, the microalgae symbionts found in some other corals.[2]

Species

The World Register of Marine Species includes the following species in the genus:[1]

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, July 04, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.