Morphological Observations Reveal New Record of Sarcophyton cherbonnieri Tixier‑Durivault, 1958 (Octocorallia: Alcyonacea: Alcyoniidae) in Vietnam

Abstract

Sarcophyton (Alcyoniidae farmily) often is dominant genus with 18 species represented in Vietnam. The Sarcophyton cherbonnieri species was the first recorded in Aldabra (North of Madagascar). After that this species also recorded at some regions such as Tanzania, Ryukyu Archipelago (Japan) and Stanley Reef (GBR, Australia). By using morphological observation of specimens revealed the new record of Sarcophyton cherbonnieri from Vietnam and extends the distributional region of this species in the South China Sea. Some different diagnostic features of sclerites will be discussed in terms of morphological differences in our samples compared to their previous studies. This present study not only contributed to our knowledge of Sarcophyton soft coral diversity in Vietnam but also reveal their valuable biodiversity, distribution and relationship of Octocorallia fauna at Indo-pacific reefs.