Diet

• Leptogorgia alba is a suspension-feeding octocoral that obtains food by capturing small organisms and organic particles from the surrounding water.

• Its polyps extend their pinnate tentacles into the current, trapping plankton and other suspended particulate material.

• The species also hosts microscopic organisms associated with its tissues, including bacteria that may contribute to nutrient cycling and chemical defence.

Range

• Leptogorgia alba is distributed along the tropical eastern Pacific, from Mexico southward through Central America to Colombia and the Galápagos Islands.

• In Mexico it has been recorded from the Gulf of California and along the Pacific coast, including the southern Pacific coast of Oaxaca.

• It occurs along the Pacific coast of Mexico and is present in the broader Zihua region.

Habitat

• It is a shallow to moderately deep-water gorgonian associated with rocky substrates and other firm surfaces.

• Documented records range from approximately 3–30 m depth, although it can occur across a broader depth range in some areas.

• Colonies commonly grow on rocky reefs, walls and other exposed hard substrates where water movement delivers suspended food.

Description

• Leptogorgia alba is a delicate, branching soft coral forming upright, fan-like or irregularly branched colonies.

• The branches are slender and flexible, with a relatively small basal attachment and numerous fine terminal branches.

• The colony is typically white to pale cream, including the slender branches and numerous small polyps.

• The polyps are distributed along the branches and possess eight pinnate tentacles, characteristic of octocorals.

• The skeleton is an internal organic axis surrounded by soft tissue containing microscopic calcium-carbonate structures called sclerites.

• Its combination of slender white branches, relatively delicate colony structure and small pale polyps gives it the characteristic appearance of a white gorgonian.