A 3D Innovative Approach Supporting the Description of Boring Sponges of the Precious Red Coral Corallium rubrum

Abstract

The carbonatic scleraxis of Corallium rubrum (L.), commonly known as red coral, is often found infested by excavating sponges. These boring organisms produce galleries inside the compact axis of the coral in a variety of shapes compromising the integrity of the skeleton and reducing its commercial value. Three sponge species, already known to bore into Corallium rubrum, have been identified in colonies collected from Cape Verde Archipelago—Alectona millari (Carter, 1879); Dotona pulchella mediterranea (Rosell and Uriz, 2002); and Thoosa armata (Topsent, 1888)—together with a new species belonging to the genus Alectona and here described. SEM analysis provided evidence of the microerosion patterns of these species, confirming the presence of radial scars overlapped with the concentric ones, in T. armata. For the first time, microcomputed tomography was employed to obtain three-dimensional reconstructions of sponge excavations inside the red coral scleraxis and to estimate the eroded volume.

An alternative and effective method for extracting skeletal organic matrix adapted to the red coral Corallium rubrum

“…actin?) or from cellular debris trapped during calcification; 2) microbes, which could be parasitic contaminants or symbiotic microbiomes; and, 3) macro-organisms such as the boring sponges, which damage and compromise skeleton integrity ( Pulido Mantas et al, 2022 ). We noticed that macroscopic contaminants such as boring organisms were neither dissolved by the acidic decalcification nor melted by the heating step in the alternative protocol ( ; Fig.…”

Environmental coastal research: a systematic review for Azores and Cabo Verde, two peripherical Macaronesian archipelagos

“…In this scenario, the risk of opportunistic biological invasion in coastal ecosystems (NIS) will increase (Halpern et al, 2007). The volcanic character of the Cape Verde archipelago together with the dry tropical climate unique in its ecoregion (Spalding et al, 2007) allows it to host a great diversity of coral species (Loṕez et al, 2019;Pulido Mantas et al, 2022;Zamora-Jordań et al, 2022). Cabo Verde has been described as one of the world's top ten coral reef biodiversity hotspots, although there are no reef-building (hermatypic) corals.…”