Heliania spinescens Gray, 1860

Figures 22A, 23

MATERIAL EXAMINED.— CASIZG 222404; Philippines, Batangas Province, Caban Island, Kirby’s Rock; 34 m depth; 30 March 2017; coll. Peri Paleracio, one whole colony wet-preserved in 95% ethanol.

REMARKS.— Colonies are richly branched with lateral branching. The contracted polyps form numerous, conspicuous mounds that are congested along the branches. They are digitiform in shape and often curve upward. Three genera in the family Ellisellidae have club-shaped sclerites in which the head has clusters of upward-facing tubercles — Dichotella, Heliania, and Junceella. Many of the club-like sclerites in Heliania have tubercles with acute tips that are relatively sharply pointed. Philippine specimens are bright red to brick-red in color, while colonies from other regions such as Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Palau, and New Caledonia are usually reddish orange to orange or yellow-orange.

SPECIES.— Heliania spinescens is one of only two described species in the genus, the other is Heliania racemosa (Wright and Studer, 1889).

OCCURRENCE AND DISTRIBUTION.— Encountered infrequently on deeper reefs, mostly at mesophotic depths in the Philippines (ca. 34–95 m). The genus is widespread in the Indo-West Pacific region from approximately 23–600 m in depth.

REFERENCES.— Fabricius and Alderslade (2001); Grasshoff (1999); Grasshoff and Bargibant (2001).