Ellisellidae
| Ellisellidae | ||||||||||
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Nicella Schmitti |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Ellisellidae | ||||||||||
| Gray , 1859 |
The Ellisellidae are a family of sea fan- like octocorals . They mostly live in relatively shallow water, but are absent in shallow reef zones. No genus of the Ellisellidae lives in symbiosis with zooxanthellae . They feed exclusively by catching plankton .
features
The animal colonies form unbranched tails or have a fan-shaped or sparse growth, with the few branches near the colony base. Their flexible, horn-like axial skeleton consists of an inner medula made of gorgonin and an outer, bark-like cortex that is heavily calcified. The medulla is covered by the coenenchyme from which the eight-rayed polyps grow. The polyps are small and numerous. Small, dumbbell-shaped sclerites , only 0.1 mm long, sit in the coenenchyma . Ellisellidae genera are usually red or orange in color.
Genera
- Ctenocella
- Ellisella Gray, 1858
- Junceella
- Nicella Gray, 1870
- Riisea Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1860
- Toeplitzella
- Verrucella
Systematics
Mostly the Ellisellidae are counted as subordinate to the Calcaxonia . A phylogenetic analysis of the relationships within the Octocorallia presents this as a sister group of sea feathers (Pennatulacea) outside the taxon. The common taxon formed by both is in a sister group relationship to the blue coral ( Heliopora coerulea ).
literature
- CS McFadden, SC France, JA Sánchez, P. Alderslade: A molecular phylogenetic analysis of the Octocorallia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) based on mitochondrial protein-coding sequences , doi : 10.1016 / j.ympev.2006.06.010
- Svein A. Fossa / Alf Jacob Nilsen: Coral reef aquarium , Volume 4, Schmettkamp Verlag, 1995, ISBN 3-928819-05-4
