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Extremely rapid withdrawal behaviour of the sea pen Protoptilum cf. carpenteri in the deep Mediterranean

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Abstract

Sea pens (Octocorallia, Pennatulacea) are a specialized and morphologically distinct group of octocorals. The majority of them have adapted to survive on soft sediments with the help of an anchoring muscular peduncle. The whip-like sea pen Protoptilum carpenteri is considered a deep-sea North Atlantic species, which recently has been documented also in the Mediterranean Sea, where its actual distribution and abundance are still unknown. Even less is known about its ecology and behaviour, its reactions after disturbance, and its possible escape strategies. Several species of pennatulaceans can withdraw partially or completely into the sediment, following an apparent rhythmic but unsynchronized procedure that is usually preceded by the closure of the autozooids and the expulsion of the water contained within the colony. The present study reports and discusses for the first time the extremely fast withdrawal behaviour of P. cf. carpenteri after in situ disturbance.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the crew of the R/V Sarmiento de Gamboa and the ROV pilots (Bernardo Cornide, Juan Barreiro, and Yago Sanches. We thank Francesco Mastrototaro and Giovanni Chimienti (University of Bari, Italy) for providing additional information and comments of their observations on the Mediterranean Protoptilum carpenteri colonies. We thank Pablo J. López-González (University of Seville, Spain) for his comments on the photographic and video material presented in this note, as well as on the morphological and molecular variability of the species of the genus Protoptilum. We also acknowledge two anonymous reviewers for sharp comments that improved the study considerably. We also recognize the institutional support of the Spanish Government through the Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S).

Funding

This study was funded by ABRIC project (Ref. RTI2018-096434-B-I00).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Ciències del Mar, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ICM-CSIC), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003, Barcelona, Spain

    Stefano Ambroso, Jordi Grinyó & Pere Puig

  2. Department of Ocean Systems, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research and Utrecht University, Texel, The Netherlands

    Jordi Grinyó

  3. Dipartamento Di Scienze E Tecnologie Biologiche E Ambientali (DiSTeBA), University of Salento, S.P.6. Monteroni, 73100, Lecce, Italy

    Meri Bilan

Authors
  1. Stefano Ambroso
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  2. Jordi Grinyó
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  3. Meri Bilan
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  4. Pere Puig
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stefano Ambroso.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval

No animal testing was performed during this study.

Sampling and field studies

The study does not contain sampling material or data from field studies.

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All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.

Author contribution

SA and JG conceived and designed research. SA wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

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Communicated by B. W. Hoeksema

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Supplementary Information

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Supplementary file1 Online Resource 1 Video footage of the withdrawal behaviour of the sea pen Protoptilum cf. carpenteri (MP4 2404 KB)

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Ambroso, S., Grinyó, J., Bilan, M. et al. Extremely rapid withdrawal behaviour of the sea pen Protoptilum cf. carpenteri in the deep Mediterranean. Mar. Biodivers. 51, 91 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-021-01243-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-021-01243-3

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