New Cave-Dwelling Reef Coral Discovered in the Indo-Pacific

Oct. 11, 2012 —

      This is the new coral species living on the ceilings
       of caves in tropical coral reefs. (Credit: Dr. Bert
                 W. Hoeksema / Naturalis; Creative Commons CC-BY 3.0,

Coral specialist Dr. Bert W. Hoeksema of Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, The Netherlands, recently published the description of a new coral species that lives on the ceilings of caves in Indo-Pacific coral reefs. Its distribution range overlaps with the Coral Triangle, an area that is famous for its high marine species richness.

Despite the lack of zooxanthellae (symbiotic algae that reef corals in shallow tropical seas normally need for their survival and growth) and its small size, the skeleton structures of the new species indicate that it is closely related to these Leptoseris corals, although it has not been found deeper than 35 m so far.

The species is named Leptoseris troglodyta. The word troglodyta is derived from ancient Greek and means "one who dwells in holes," a cave dweller. The discovery sheds new light on the relation of reef corals with symbiotic algae. The new species has adapted to a life without them. Consequently, it may not grow fast, which would be convenient because space is limited on cave ceilings. The species description is published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Courtesy: ScienceDaily