''Parazoanthus darwini'' is a
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of macrocnemic zoanthid first found in the
Galapagos. It can be distinguished by its association with
sponge
Sponges or sea sponges are primarily marine invertebrates of the animal phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), a basal clade and a sister taxon of the diploblasts. They are sessile filter feeders that are bound to the seabed, and a ...
s, by having about 24–30
tentacle
In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, and elongated organ present in some species of animals, most of them invertebrates. In animal anatomy, tentacles usually occur in one or more pairs. Anatomically, the tentacles of animals work main ...
s and
polyps embedded in a well-developed
coenenchyme
Coenenchyme is the common tissue that surrounds and links the polyps in octocorals. It consists of mesoglea penetrated by tubes (''solenia'') and canals of the gastrodermis and contains sclerites, microscopic mineralised spicules of silica or of ...
.
References
Further reading
*Swain, Timothy D., and Laura M. Swain. "Molecular parataxonomy as taxon description: examples from recently named Zoanthidea (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) with revision based on serial histology of microanatomy." Zootaxa 3796.1 (2014): 81-107.
*Low, Martyn EY, and James Davis Reimer. "Parazoanthus Haddon & Shackleton, 1891, and Parazoanthidae Delage & Hérouard, 1901: conservation of usage by Reversal of Precedence with Bergia Duchassing & Michelotti, 1860, and Bergiidae Verrill, 1869 (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Hexacorallia)." Zootaxa 2995 (2011): 64-68.
External links
*
WORMS
Animals described in 2010
darwini
{{hexacorallia-stub