First observation of <i>Waminoa</i> sp. on <i>Dendronephthya</i> aff. <i>rigida</i>

Abstract

Associations between different taxa constitute critical data to recognize ecological symbioses. Acoela flatworms of the genus Waminoa are an overlooked but often present group in coral reef ecosystems. More than 97% of the reports on Waminoa individuals until now have found them on scleractinian coral species, and the relationships between Waminoa species and other potential hosts such as octocorals, which are often large and ecologically important components in coral reefs, are not known well. Here we report the first observation of Waminoa sp. from a species of Dendronephthya, at Zanpa, Okinawa, Japan. We observed three morphotypes on a colony of D. aff. rigida (Studer, 1888), with almost all Waminoa individuals in shaded locations.

Millepora spp. as Substrates of Their Hydrozoan Counterparts Stylaster sp. in the Pacific Ocean

“…Both organisms belong to groups of hydrozoans that calcify, namely the families Stylasteridae Gray, 1847 and Milleporidae Fleming, 1828 [7]. In the biodiverse marine ecosystems of the Ryukyu Archipelago, several unexpected interactions between different taxa have been reported [8][9][10], and some of these associations have been found to be widespread despite having remained unreported for a substantial amount of time [11]. Here we report our observations of the association between Millepora spp.…”