Gary McDonald, USA
Info
Thrombophyton trachydermum McFadden & Hochberg, 2003
This small and rather inconspicuous soft coral is found on the west coast of Canada from Barkley Sound, Vancouver, British Columbia via Oregon to the San Juan Islands in the northwest of the US state of Washington.
Thrombophyton trachydermum forms membrane-like colonies of about 2.4 mm thickness and about 6 - 95 polyps, tentacle length 1.5 - 4.5 mm, the soft coral settles on vertical rock formations with rather higher water movement. Sometimes the soft coral also settles on sessile organisms like the sea cucumber Psolus chitonoides Clark, 1901 or the clam Terebratalia transversa (Sowerby, 1846)
Gonochoric reproduction! Male genital polyps release sperm and fertilise the eggs in open water or within the female genital polyps
Naming: The words "trachy" and "dermon" come from the Greek and mean "rough skin" in relation to the dense layer of large sclerites,
which give the colony surface a very rough texture
Colour: yellowish-orange
Similar species: Thrombophyton coronatum McFadden & Hochberg, 2003
This small and rather inconspicuous soft coral is found on the west coast of Canada from Barkley Sound, Vancouver, British Columbia via Oregon to the San Juan Islands in the northwest of the US state of Washington.
Thrombophyton trachydermum forms membrane-like colonies of about 2.4 mm thickness and about 6 - 95 polyps, tentacle length 1.5 - 4.5 mm, the soft coral settles on vertical rock formations with rather higher water movement. Sometimes the soft coral also settles on sessile organisms like the sea cucumber Psolus chitonoides Clark, 1901 or the clam Terebratalia transversa (Sowerby, 1846)
Gonochoric reproduction! Male genital polyps release sperm and fertilise the eggs in open water or within the female genital polyps
Naming: The words "trachy" and "dermon" come from the Greek and mean "rough skin" in relation to the dense layer of large sclerites,
which give the colony surface a very rough texture
Colour: yellowish-orange
Similar species: Thrombophyton coronatum McFadden & Hochberg, 2003
