Rose Lace Coral

Stylaster roseus (Pallas, 1766)

Madrepora rosea Pallas, 1766:312–313.

Stylaster roseus.—Gray, 1831:37.—Boschma, 1955:134–138; 1965:227–247, pls. 1–3 [complete synonymy].—Roos, 1971:45, pl. 4.—Scatterday, 1974:86.—Colin, 1978:141, 144 [color fig.], 151.—Kruijf and Kruijf, 1980: 86–92.—Zibrowius and Cairns, 1982:211.—Cairns, 1983b:479–480, figs. 17A–I, 25A, 26D, 28F, H. [Not S. roseus.—Verrill, 1864:45; Lindstrom, 1877:15 (identity unknown).—Broch, 1914:12–15 (= S. erubescens).—Boone, 1933:31 (identity unknown).]

Stylaster punctatus Pourtalès, 1871:36.—Boschma, 1957:14.—Zibrowius and Cairns, 1982:210, 211. [Not S. punctatus.—Pourtalès, 1874:43, pl. 7: figs. 8, 9; 1878:210.]

Stylaster sanguineus.—Pourtalès, 1871:83 [in part: specimen from Cuba].

Stylaster sp.—Rathbun, 1879:542.

Stylaster duchassaingi.—Laborel, 1971:224, pl. 8: fig. 4.

DESCRIPTION.—Colonies flabellate to bushy, up to 7 cm tall and 11 cm broad. Branches slightly elliptical in cross section and nonanastomotic; distal branches not much larger in diameter than diameter of a cyclosystem (about 1 mm). Coenosteum deep purple, white with rose cyclosystems, completely white, or rose colored, in order of frequency of occurrence in the USNM collections. Coenosteum of most specimens pierced with small round pores 45–50 μm in diameter, presumably the dactylopores of the isolated dactylozooids described by Goedbloed (1962a). Coenosteal texture linear-imbricate with a tendency toward reticulate structure near ampullae and cyclosystems. Strips usually 65–80 μm wide, covered by a very irregular arrangement of platelets 5–34 μm in width. Slits separating strips narrow and deep, bearing elongate granules.

Cyclosystems variable in arrangement. On distal branches they are usually arranged in a regular sympodial manner, which may continue throughout the colony or may be augmented by additional cyclosystems on the anterior and posterior faces. Some colonies have entirely sympodially arranged cyclosystems; on others they are mostly randomly arranged; and yet others have both arrangements on different branches of the same colony. It appears that bushy colonies have a greater tendency for the irregular arrangement. Cyclosystems round to slightly elliptical, 0.75–1.0 mm in diameter. Based on 1003 cyclosystems, Boschma (1965) found the range of dactylopores per cyclosystem to be 5–15, average = 9.7, and mode = 10.

Gastrostyles lanceolate and highly ridged, 0.32–0.50 mm tall and 0.11–0.20 mm in diameter (H:W = 2.1–3.6). Gastrostyle spines fused along vertical ridges; spines slender and pointed, up to 32 μm long. A distinct ring palisade present, encircling upper third of style, composed of vertical ridges up to 52 μm long and 15 μm wide. Both dactylopore slits and pseudosepta 60–70 μm wide; however, a small abcauline diastema is sometimes present, measuring three to four times the width of a pseudoseptum. Dactylostyles rudimentary; composed of widely spaced, linearly arranged, cylindrical to clavate elements 25–27 μm tall and 11 μm in diameter.

Ampullae prominent hemispheres 0.5–0.7 mm in diameter, usually smooth but occasionally ridged or warty. Young ampullae very porous (Figure 28 B). Mature female ampullae have a short efferent tube, which terminates in a porous concavity 0.12–0.17 mm in diameter.

Gastrozooids cylindrical, short, and blunt, each with several tentacles. Dactylozooids within cyclosystems usually adnate (Goedbloed, 1962a); however, some are simple and greatly elongated (hair dactylozooids as described by Kruijf, 1977). Isolated simple dactylozooids also occur with varying frequency. Nematocysts of gastrozooid tentacles and dactylozooids about 6 × 2 μm; slightly larger swollen nematocysts 7 × 4 μm occur on the pseudosepta. Colonies may be hermaphroditic, but individual ampullae are exclusively male or female (Goedbloed, 1962b). Coenosteal canals about 5 μm in diameter.

calcareous colonies, no free medusae

0.5-73 m