AsianScientist (Oct. 17, 2014) – An international team of researchers has shed new light on Zoantharians, a group of animals related to corals and anemones. Their study, published in ZooKeys, demonstrates how little we know about marine diversity in the so-called “center of marine biodiversity” located in the central Indo-Pacific Ocean.
The researchers utilized previously collected specimens from Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea, combined with field images from Dr. Bert Hoeksema from the Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Netherlands to examine species of Zoantharia, marine cnidarians commonly found in shallow subtropical and tropical oceans throughout the world.
“The central Indo-Pacific is commonly called the “Coral Triangle” due to its high hard coral diversity, in fact the highest in the world” said Dr. James Reimer of the University of the Ryukyus, “but in fact for many groups of marine animals we really have little concrete information on diversity, or numbers of species, in this region.”
Previous research included brief reports on a few species of Zoantharia, but until now no formal attempts had been made to list species from this region. Surprisingly, of the 24 potential species identified by the researchers, at least nine are undescribed.
“What struck me as particularly amazing was the fact that Naturalis housed over 600 Zoantharia specimens collected over the years, and in many cases, even specimens from 1930 had not yet been formally examined,” stated Reimer. “This research demonstrates the real importance of museum collections, as well as the lack of expert researchers for many taxonomic groups.”
“Unfortunately, for many regions of the world, we are only just beginning to examine diversity, despite some of these areas being among the most threatened,” added Reimer. It is hoped future specimen collections will allow further analyses and formal descriptions of these previously unreported species.
The article can be found at: Reimer et al. (2014) Shallow-Water Zoantharians (Cnidaria, Hexacorallia) from the Central Indo-Pacific.
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Source: Pensoft Publishers.
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