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Umbellapathes litocrada is a black coral known so far only from seamounts around the northern Hawaiian Islands (Musicians Seamounts, Wagner Seamount) and around Johnston Atoll (Hutchinson Seamount).
Holotype and paratype were discovered with the ROV Deep Discoverer from the Okeanos Explorer and collected for ID.
We would like to thank the Hawaiʻi Undersea Research Laboratory (HURL) and the NOAA Photo Library for permission to use the photos.
The first description (New species of black corals (Cnidaria:Anthozoa: Antipatharia) from deep-sea seamounts and ridges in the North Pacific) gives on page depths found around the Hawaiian Islands and Johnston Atoll between 1,504 -2,413 meters.
The colony consists of a stalk about 62 cm high, which has a 52 cm long, unfeathered lower part and a 10 cm long branched and feathered upper part.
The shape of the coral is ideal for catching drifting plankton, marine snow and plankton.
Etymology.
From the Greek "litos", meaning "simple", and "crada", meaning "branch", referring to the fact that the pinnules are not subpinnated as in Umbellapathes helioanthes.
Holotype and paratype were discovered with the ROV Deep Discoverer from the Okeanos Explorer and collected for ID.
We would like to thank the Hawaiʻi Undersea Research Laboratory (HURL) and the NOAA Photo Library for permission to use the photos.
The first description (New species of black corals (Cnidaria:Anthozoa: Antipatharia) from deep-sea seamounts and ridges in the North Pacific) gives on page depths found around the Hawaiian Islands and Johnston Atoll between 1,504 -2,413 meters.
The colony consists of a stalk about 62 cm high, which has a 52 cm long, unfeathered lower part and a 10 cm long branched and feathered upper part.
The shape of the coral is ideal for catching drifting plankton, marine snow and plankton.
Etymology.
From the Greek "litos", meaning "simple", and "crada", meaning "branch", referring to the fact that the pinnules are not subpinnated as in Umbellapathes helioanthes.
