PRESENCIA DE LOS OCTOCORALES STYLATULA DIADEMA BAYER (PENNATULACEA) Y CARIJOA NISEI (DUCHASSAING Y MICHELOTTI) (TELESTACEA) EN LA COSTA CARIBE COLOMBIANA

Abstract

Through SCUBA and skin diving various shallow water ecosystems (rocky shores, soft bottoms and coral reefs, 0-30 m deep) were surveyed to collect telestaceans and penatulaceans octocorals; the areas considered were Cartagena, the Rosario islands, Tierra Bomba island, Baru island, San Bernardo islands, Bushnell and Salmedina banks, Capurgana and Zapzurro harbours (8°20'-10°45' N; 75°50'-77025' W), the Santa Marta area (11°14'50" N; 74°15' W) y and the Guajira (11°56'58" N; 72°16'18" W), Colombian Caribbean. Styiatula diadema Bayer (Virgulariidae: Pennatulacea) is first recorded for the Caribbean sea and has been found inhabiting soft sand bottoms between 25 and 30 m, at the outer end of Cartagena Bay and the Mangles Bank in San Bernardo islands. The geographic distribution of Carijoa riisei (Duchassaing y Michelotti) (Telestidae: Telestacea) was widen from the Caribbean and Colombia, it has been found in a broad bathymetric range (0.5-30 m) in all the habitats surveyed. Few records of telestaceans and pennatulaceans in this region, as in the rest of the Caribbean, suggest that the octocorallian fauna is mostly represented by gorgonians than by other orders, and shows an inverse relationship with the Indopacific fauna, where the alcyonaceans are the dominant order.