Overview of the genus Briareum (Cnidaria, Octocorallia, Briareidae) in the Indo-Pacific, with the description of a new species

Abstract

The status of Indo-Pacific Briareum species (Cnidaria, Octocorallia, Briareidae) is reviewed by presenting their sclerite features and habitus descriptions. Following the re-examination of type material, museum specimens and newly collected specimens, a species identification key is provided. The species distributions are discussed and updated distribution ranges are depicted. Moreover, a new taxon, Briareum cylindrum sp. n. is described and depicted, whereas Briareum excavatum (Nutting, 1911) is synonymised with Briareum stechei (Kükenthal, 1908). Briareum hamrum (Gohar, 1948) is recorded from the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea for the first time. Consequently, in total four Briareum species are recognized in the Indo-Pacific; Briareum hamrum from the western Indian Ocean, and Briareum cylindrum sp. n., Briareum stechei, and Briareum violaceum from the central and eastern Indo-Pacific region.

Secondary metabolome and its defensive role in the aeolidoidean Phyllodesmium longicirrum, (Gastropoda, Heterobranchia, Nudibranchia)

“…The NMR data (Supporting Information File 1, Table S1) of compound 1 resembled most closely those of epoxy-secosterols isolated from the gorgonian Pseudopterogorgia americana [22] and from the soft coral Pachyclavularia violacea (now Briareum violaceum [23]) by Anta et al ([24], Fig. 4).…”

Briaviolide Q, a New Briarane from the Cultured Briareum violaceum

“…signal at  C 173.0 was correlated with the signals of the methylene protons at  H 2.27 and 1.61 in the HMBC spectrum and was thus assigned as carbonyl atom of the n-hexanoyl group. The 1 H-1 H COSY spectrum of 1 revealed 1 H NMR coupling information showing the existence of H-2/H 2 -3/H 2 -4, H-6/H-7, H-9/H-10 and H-12/H 2 -13/H-14 units (Figure 2), which were established with the assistance of an HMBC experiment. Additionally, the HMBC experiment enabled clarification of the correlations between protons and quaternary carbons of 1, such as H-2, H-3, H-9, H-10, H-13α, H-14, H 3 -15/C-1; H-4α, H-7, H 3 -16/C-5; H-10, H 3 -18/C-8; H-9, H-12, H-13α, H 3 -20/C-11; H-9, H 3 -18/C-17; and H 3 -18/C-19, which provided confirmation of the carbon skeleton(Figure 2).…”

“…The octocoral Briareum violaceum (Quoy & Gaimard, 1883) (family Briareidae) [1] is a rich source of diterpenoids with a briarane carbon skeleton [2]. In studies of chemical constituents of cultured B. violaceum, a new briarane, briaviolide Q (1) as well as a known analogue, excavatolide Z (2) [3], were obtained ( Figure 1).…”

A new species of Melithaea (Anthozoa, Octocorallia, Melithaeidae) from the Oman Sea, off Oman

“…This might explain the scarce records and rarity of these species within this region where they have not been documented in major coral studies (see Sheppard and Salm 1988; Sheppard and Sheppard 1999; Sheppard et al 2000; Claereboudt 2006; Samimi-Namin and van Ofwegen 2016a, b). In contrast, this family is relatively common in the shallow warm waters of the central Indo-Pacific and the Coral Triangle (Fabricius and Alderslade 2001; Hoeksema and van Ofwegen 2004, 2008).…”