Prof. Michael Schleyer, Südafrika
Info
Colonies of the soft coral Protodendron repens are generally found in isolated patches on vertical reef walls or on the edge of rocky ledges near the interface between reef and sediment.
Although the small colonies are not conspicuous, they have thin branching, and the expanded polyps are daisy-like, with bright hue.
In 1906 this soft coral was described by Thomson & Henderson as Coelogorgia repens from Zanzibar, east coast of Africa.
A further description was made in1931 by Thompson & Dean based on finds from the Celebesesse, a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, between Kalimantan (formerly Borneo), Sulawesi and the Philippines.
In 1973, colonies were found at two sites in the western Indian Ocean off Mozambique.
In addition to visual and haptic examinations, soft corals are identified primarily by their sclerites found in coral tissue.
After examination of the sclerites, the studies of the finds showed great similarities, but also differences due to the size of the sclerites.
The most recent study of the region from the Chagos Archipelago, Mayotte, Mozambique and Tanzania was done by Prof. Michael Schleyer & Yehuda Benayahu in 2016.
Following this work, Protodendron repens seems to occur only (still?) around the island of Mayotte.
We are curious if there will be comments from divers who dive or have dived at the above occurrence sites.
We especially thank Prof. Michael Schleyer, South Africa, for the first photos of this pretty soft coral from Mayotte.
Synonym: Coelogorgia repens Thomson & Henderson, 1906
Although the small colonies are not conspicuous, they have thin branching, and the expanded polyps are daisy-like, with bright hue.
In 1906 this soft coral was described by Thomson & Henderson as Coelogorgia repens from Zanzibar, east coast of Africa.
A further description was made in1931 by Thompson & Dean based on finds from the Celebesesse, a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, between Kalimantan (formerly Borneo), Sulawesi and the Philippines.
In 1973, colonies were found at two sites in the western Indian Ocean off Mozambique.
In addition to visual and haptic examinations, soft corals are identified primarily by their sclerites found in coral tissue.
After examination of the sclerites, the studies of the finds showed great similarities, but also differences due to the size of the sclerites.
The most recent study of the region from the Chagos Archipelago, Mayotte, Mozambique and Tanzania was done by Prof. Michael Schleyer & Yehuda Benayahu in 2016.
Following this work, Protodendron repens seems to occur only (still?) around the island of Mayotte.
We are curious if there will be comments from divers who dive or have dived at the above occurrence sites.
We especially thank Prof. Michael Schleyer, South Africa, for the first photos of this pretty soft coral from Mayotte.
Synonym: Coelogorgia repens Thomson & Henderson, 1906
