AUTHOR=Carreiro-Silva Marina , Ocaña Oscar , Stanković David , Sampaio Íris , Porteiro Filipe M. , Fabri Marie-Claire , Stefanni Sergio 

TITLE=Zoantharians (Hexacorallia: Zoantharia) Associated with Cold-Water Corals in the Azores Region: New Species and Associations in the Deep Sea

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Marine Science

VOLUME=4

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2017.00088

DOI=10.3389/fmars.2017.00088

ISSN=2296-7745

ABSTRACT=<p>Zoantharians are a group of cnidarians that are often found in association with marine invertebrates, including corals, in shallow and deep-sea environments. However, little is known about deep-sea zoantharian taxonomy, specificity and nature of their associations with their coral hosts. In this study, analyses of molecular data (mtDNA COI, 16S, and 12S rDNA) coupled with ecological and morphological characteristics were used to examine zoantharian specimens associated with cold-water corals (CWC) at depths between 110 and 800 m from seamounts and island slopes in the Azores region. The zoantharians examined were found living in association with stylasterids, antipatharians and octocorals. From the collected specimens, four new species were identified: (1) <italic>Epizoanthus martinsae</italic> sp. n. associated with the antipatharian <italic>Leiopathes</italic> sp.; (2) <italic>Parazoanthus aliceae</italic> sp. n. associated with the stylasterid <italic>Errina dabneyi</italic> (Pourtalès, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B63">1871</xref>); (3) <italic>Zibrowius alberti</italic> sp. n. associated with octocorals of the family Primnoidae [<italic>Paracalyptrophora josephinae</italic> (Lindström, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B45">1877</xref>)] and the family Plexauridae (<italic>Dentomuricea</italic> aff. <italic>meteor</italic> Grasshoff, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B31">1977</xref>); (4) <italic>Hurlizoanthus hirondelleae</italic> sp. n. associated with the primnoid octocoral <italic>Candidella imbricata</italic> (Johnson, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B41">1862</xref>). In addition, based on newly collected material, morphological and molecular data and phylogenic reconstruction, the zoantharian <italic>Isozoanthus primnoidus</italic> Carreiro-Silva, Braga-Henriques, Sampaio, de Matos, Porteiro &amp; Ocaña, 2011, associated with the primnoid octocoral <italic>Callogorgia verticillata</italic> (Pallas, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B61">1766</xref>), was reclassified as <italic>Zibrowius primnoidus</italic> comb. nov. The zoantharians, <italic>Z. primnoidus</italic> comb. nov., <italic>Z. alberti</italic> sp. n., and <italic>H. hirondelleae</italic> sp. n. associated with octocorals showed evidence of a parasitic relationship, where the zoantharian progressively eliminates gorgonian tissue and uses the gorgonian axis for structure and support, and coral sclerites for protection. In contrast, the zoantharian <italic>P. aliceae</italic> sp. n. associated with the stylasterid <italic>E. dabneyi</italic> and the zoantharian <italic>E. martinsae</italic> sp. n. associated with the antipatharian <italic>Leiopathes</italic> sp., appear to use the coral host only as support with no visible damage to the host. The monophyly of octocoral-associated zoantharians suggests that substrate specificity is tightly linked to the evolution of zoantharians.</p><p><italic>Zibrowius alberti</italic> sp. n. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:8E186AD4-CA6E-419B-B46A-4C8D11C757DD</p><p><italic>Hurlizoanthus hirondelleae</italic> sp. n. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:6737B10E-9E87-4BA0-9559-C22D49863732</p><p><italic>Parazoanthus aliceae</italic> sp.n. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:3D3AA61D-E5CC-47DF-94F1-A4A2FF59ABEA</p><p><italic>Epizoanthus martinsae</italic> sp. n. urn:lsid: zoobank.org:act:04686BB5-03D7-4132-B52B-CC89DF8EBFA8</p><p>urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FED88229-30F9-481F-9155-FF481790AE5C</p>