• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.39 no.2
• /
• pp.61-66
• /
• 2023

Through a taxonomic study on solitary corals collected from subtidal zones of South and East Seas from 2019 to 2022, Paracyathus rotundatus, an unrecorded species belonging to family Caryophylliidae, is newly added to the anthozoan fauna of Korea. In addition, comparing partial 16S rRNA sequences with a length of 269 bp according to color variation clarified that there were no sequence differences among specimens with color variation, indicating that the color variation is due to intraspecific variation. As a result of this study, a total of 7 genera and 8 species belonging to the Caryophylliidae family have been reported in Korean waters so far.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.46-49
• /
• 2022

This study newly records a deep-sea coral, Flabellum (Ulocyathus) deludens from Korea. The specimens were collected by trawling at a depth of 100 m off Jejudo Island in 2019. The newly recorded species is described and compared with the other similar consubgeneric species in detail based on morphological characteristics, including corallum size, calicular diameter, calicular edge, face angle, edge angle, and septal arrangement. Flabellum(Ulocyathus) deludens is characterized by its solitary, highly compressed, wedge-shaped corallite with a small cylindrical pedicel, radiating inverse chevron-patterned lateral stripes on thecal faces, highly jagged calicular edges, and hexameral septal arrangement in five cycles. As a result of this study, five species in the family Flabellidae have been recorded from Korea.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.65-72
• /
• 2017

This study reports three species in the genus Tubastraea from Korea: Tubastraea coccinea Lesson, 1829; Tubastraea faulkneri Wells, 1982; and Tubastraea micranthus (Ehrenberg, 1834). Tubastraea faulkneri and T. micranthus are newly recorded in Korea. The specimens of three species were collected in the subtidal zones off Jeju-do between 1991 and 2010. The two newly recorded species were described in detail based upon the morphological characters of skeletal structures. The previous records of T. coccinea in Korea were supplemented with additional data in the remarks. These three species have a straight septal arrangement or irregular septal fusion in common as a main character for the genus Tubastraea, but they differ with respect to the growth form, intercorallite distance, exsertness from common coenosteum, and the detailed characters of septal arrangement. Tubastraea faulkneri is similar to T. coccinea in its plocoid growth form, well developed common coenosteum, and corallite size. However, unlike the latter species, the former species is characterized by rare or absent budding adjacent to the corallite edges, wider intercorallite distance, and irregularly developed septal fusion near the columella. In particular, T. micranthus is distinguished by an axial dendroid growth form, and the smallest corallites in this genus.

• Animal cells and systems
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.315-324
• /
• 2011

The actiniarian sea anemone, Entacmaea quadricolor, and the scleractinian coral, Alveopora japonica, host symbiotic dinoflagellates belonging to the genus Symbiodinium (Freudenthal). We studied the host-symbiont specificity of these two anthozoan hosts in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. Symbionts within the two hosts were identified using partial large subunit (LSU) ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and complete internal transcribed spacers (ITS) 1 rDNA regions. The host, E. quadricolor, was identified using the partial LSU rDNA molecular marker. Genetic analysis showed that E. quadricolor only harbors dinoflagellates belonging to subclade C1/3 of the genus Symbiodinium. Moreover, no genetic variation was detected among the symbionts of E. quadricolor within the study region (Korea and Japan), even though the two distant sites were separated by more than 1000 km, at collection depths of 1 m in shallow and 13-16 m in deep water. Whilst scleractinian corals host multiple Symbiodinium clades in tropical waters, A. japonica, sampled over a wide geographical range (800 km) within the study region, only hosts Symbiodinium sp. clade F3. The high specificity of endosymbionts in E. quadricolor and A. japonica within the northwestern Pacific Ocean could be accounted for because symbiotic dinoflagellates within the host anemones appear to be acquired maternally, and the Kuroshio Current might affect the marine biota of the northwestern Pacific. However, the consistency of the symbiotic relationships between these two anthozoan hosts and their endosymbionts could change after climate change, so this symbiotic specificity should be monitored.