90 
THE CORAL TRIANGLE: HEARST BIODIVERSITY EXPEDITION 
Medulla: The inner supporting structure of scleraxonian gorgonians that is composed of consolidated scle- 
rites, as in Subergorgia (Fig. 9, bottom row). 
Needle: A long, thin, unbranched sclerite. 
Oval: A short rodlike sclerite, rounded or ovoid in shape, often somewhat flattened. 
Peduncle: The muscular lower (proximal) portion of a sea pen colony that is devoid of polyps and serves to 
anchor the colony into sediments of the sea bottom. 
Planar: Branching pattern that is only in one plane. 
Plate: A flattened, relatively thick sclerite of diverse foim — ovoid, polygonal, or irregularly-shaped. 
Polyp: Aiy individual of an octocoral colony, but usually refers to an autozooid. 
Polyp leaf: In some sea pens, a lateral projection emanating from the rachis that contains multiple numbers 
of autozooids, often giving the colony a feather-like appearance. 
Proteinaceous: Partially or wholly composed of a protein or combination of several proteins, often part of a 
matrix associated with other substances such as calcium carbonate. 
Rachis: The upper portion of a sea pen tliat contains the polyps; as opposed to the peduncle in the lower por¬ 
tion of the colony that is smooth and does not contain polyps. 
Radiate: A spindle-like sclerite with two parallel whorls of tubercles separated by a smooth waist, also called 
capstan in some literature accounts. 
Reticulated: Branching pattem that forms a netlike structure; see Anastomosis. 
Retractile: A polyp that can completely withdraw or retract into tlie coenenchyme of the coral colony. 
Rod: An unbranched sclerite that has blunt edges at both ends. 
Rooted leaf: A clubhke sclerite with a rootlike base and a broad, flattened, shieldlike blade; also sometimes 
referred to as a leaf scale (Fig. 24, top row). 
Rosette: A sclerite with a Rmnel-shaped, projecting, often somewhat spiny crown. 
Sclerite: Minute skeletal components in octocorals (commonly < 0.25 mm in length), primarily comprised of 
calcium carbonate; combined with varying amounts of protein that often provides permanent coloration 
in axooxanthellate gorgonians; also called “spicule,” 
Spatulate: Widened or spatula-shaped toward the end of branches, as in Solenocaulon. 
Spheroid: A ball-like or sphere-shaped sclerite. 
Spindle: An unbranched sclerite that is pointed at both ends. 
Stalk: The proximal part of a gorgonian or pennatulacean colony that is devoid of polyps. 
Thornscale: A flattened sclerite with a single spine-like or several thom-like projecting processes. Deriva¬ 
tions of tliis kind of sclerite have been called thomstars (Figs. 19-20). 
Tuberculated: Refers to a sclerite that is ornamented with several or many rounded nodules or pointed knobs 
or wart-like structures (Fig. 35). 
Waisted spindle: A spindle-hke sclerite that has a medial, smooth waist that is narrower than the rest of the 
sclerite, and the tubercles on each end are not radially-arranged (Fig. 35C-D, last three sclerites on the 
right in each row) 
Wallacea: A gi'oup of islands in eastern Indonesia that are separated by regions of deep water from the Asian 
and Australian continental shelves. They were never connected to either of these continental regions, are 
entirely included within the coral triangle, and share common faunistic characteristics (Figure 2A); 
named for 1 9 ^^ century naturalist and zoogeographer, Alfred Russel Wallace. 
Zooxanthellate: An adjective that is used to describe corals and other organisms that harbor symbiotic, pho- 
tosyntlietic zooxanthellae (single-celled organisms tliat are dino flagellates of the genus Symbiodinium) in 
their tissues. 
