Bumpy Orange Gorgonian, Eugorgia aurantiaca
Bumpy Orange Gorgonian, Eugorgia aurantiaca. Provided by the commercial fishermen of the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, July 2009. Size: 15 cm (5.9 inches).
Bumpy Orange Gorgonian, Eugorgia aurantiaca. Coral provided by the commercial fishermen of the Greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, June 2009. Size: 18 cm (7.1 inches).
Phylogeny: The Bumpy Orange Gorgonian, Eugorgia aurantiaca (Horn, 1860) is an octocoral and a member of the Gorgoniidae Family of Gorgonians. The Eugorgia Genus is one of thirteen genera in the Gorgoniidae Family, and there are seventeen species in the Eugorgia Genus. They are known in Mexico as Naranja Lleno de Baches Gorgonea. The genus name Eugorgia comes from the Greek words meaning “good gorgons”. The gorgons were creatures with snake-like hair in Greek mythology. This refers to the snake-like appearance of these organisms. The species name aurantiaca comes from the Latin word for “orange”.
Morphology: The Bumpy Orange Gorgonian, is a branching, tree-like, shallow-water coral. They are characterized by their orange color with white polyps, very bumpy branches, and short side branches. The stems and branches have a skeleton that attaches to the rocky substrate via a single holdfast. They branch laterally near the base, but not in single planes; toward the top they branch pinnately. Bumpy Orange Gorgonians reach a maximum of 80 cm (2 feet 7 inches) in height. The Bumpy Orange Gorgonian can be easily confused with the Red Gorgonian, Eugorgia daniana, which has more elongated branches that lack bumps.
Habitat and Distribution: The Bumpy Orange Gorgonian is found attached to rocks and other hard substrates. They live off-shore in clean, plankton-rich, waters at depths up to 30 m (100 feet). Bumpy Orange Gorgonians are a subtropical to tropical Eastern Pacific species that are found in all Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean with the exception that they are absent from north of Guerrero Negro, Baja California, along the central and northwest coasts of the Baja Peninsula.
Diet: The Bumpy Orange Gorgonian is a nocturnal filter feeder with each polyp being equipped with eight tentacles that are used to catch plankton and other types of organic matter found in the currents.
Predators: Bumpy Orange Gorgonians are preyed upon by the Convoluted Arminia, Histiomena convolvula. Other possible predators include crustaceans and fish.
Reproduction: Bumpy Orange Gorgonians are gonochoric (male or female for life). They can reproduce asexually through budding and sexually through spawning. During spawning, mass amounts of eggs and sperm are released into the water and fuse into gametes. The larvae will eventually settle on a substrate and begin to form a polyp. From here, a colony grows through cloning (asexual reproduction).
Ecosystem Interactions: The Gorgonian Wrapper Anemone, Nemanthus annamensis, is often found attached to Bumpy Orange Gorgonians in what appears to be a commensal relationship. Their engagement in any type of parasitic or symbiotic relationship has not been formally documented.
Human Interactions: Bumpy Orange Gorgonians have a very limited impact on human activities. From a conservation perspective they have not been formally evaluated however they are fairly common with a relatively wide distribution and should be consider to be of Least Concern.
Synonyms: Eugorgia ferreri, Eugorgia mexicana, Gorgonia (Eugorgia) mexicana, Gorgonia aurantiaca, and Lophogorgia aurantiaca.
Request for Help: This identification should be considered tentative due to the very remote location of the collection (Latitude 23oN and Longitude 110oW). We have found very little scientific focus on this area of the world and therefore supporting scientific documentation is not available. We welcome additional information on this coral from anyone who cares to contact us.