Pentapora fascialis

Gary Cobb Question! Does anyone know if in fact Madrella aurantiaca Vayssière, 1902 is a synonym of Madrella sanguinea (Angas, 1864)? Thanks in advance!

João Pedro Silva Tomorrow I'm going to check some photos here in Portugal which just might be Madrella.

João Pedro Silva Just waiting for the confirmation from Gonçalo Calado and Lucas Cervera...

Gary Cobb Thank you Joao! Look forward to the reply.

João Pedro Silva Confirmed :) Madrella aurantiaca here in Portugal.

Gary Cobb Thank very much Joao for the check! I will email you my 'missing photos' list from the App.

João Pedro Silva On the next dives I'll be carefully inspecting the large colonies of Pentapora fascialis (=P. foliacea).

Gary Cobb Wish I could join you!

João Pedro Silva Plenty of time for you to get here, Gary :) I think I'll only be diving on thursday.

João Pedro Silva A few dives later... no luck finding it again. :(

Gary Cobb You have to treat them like gold...it's where you find them!

Becky Hitchin Does anyone know why Ross coral is called Ross coral? Who / what / where was Ross?

Chris Whitehead I wonder if it was originally 'Rose Coral'? The colonies do look a lot like rose flower heads. Ross coral isn't actually a coral of course. it's a colony of bryozoans. http://tinyurl.com/d396peg

Marco Faasse In French it's "rose de mer", so it's not so strange to think of "Rose Coral" as the original name. Names sometimes show strange behaviour in the course of time.

Becky Hitchin Oh interesting, Marco! That would make sense as nowhere seems to ever mention any connection to a Ross. The colonies could, I suppose, resemble rather wrinkly roses!

Marco Faasse Oh, as an afterthought: this made me think of the Ross worm Sabellaria spinulosa:http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/marine/protectandmanage/mpa/mcz/features/habitats/rosswormreefs.aspx (couldn't access MarLIN now). Again: what/who/where is/was Ross? Here a have no explanation at all ...

Becky Hitchin I know ... that's strange too

David Kipling June RP Ross perhaps? http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Bryozoa.html?id=Jl0WAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y

George Brown It used to be called Rose coral (petals, etc) but was mispelt in a book (Collins I think) that, unfortunately, has stuck. A few species have suffered in that way.

Andy Horton http://www.facebook.com/groups/WordOrigins/

Andy Horton Plumose = feathery (from memory). In old books there was a transcription error that may have been repeated in a later book.

David Kipling I'm struggling with my new OS have quite vicious autocorrect, which is making tagging FB pics with latin names fun at times. Elegans >> elegant and so on.

George Brown Dawn, exactly. Which is why I always try and use the scientific name. It can also tell so much about the creature you are looking at. And this coming from someone who proudly achieved 7% in a latin exam in school!

David Kipling Ciona intestinalis ... looks like an intestine, tick. Coryphella browni is more redi than browni though ...

George Brown Yes, it's named after Greg Brown, one of a small group of folk that brought the world of nudibranchs to the attention of us mere divers. Greg blended art with science in British Opisthobranch Molluscs published in 1976.

David Kipling Yes, I know ;) The book you mention - is that the same as the 2-vol 'biology of opisthobranch molluscs' I have sitting here? (ie the Ray Soc volumes). That's Thompson and Brown. Wouldn't want to think I'm missing a uk nudi volume somewhere!

George Brown No. This is Synopsis of the British Fauna No.8, British Opisthobranch Molluscs, Thompson and Brown, 1976, for The Linnean Society of London, ISBN: 0-12-689350-0. The drawings are black and white but a friend of mine has coloured in the plates on her copy. Beautiful. I last dived with Greg some time in the 70's. On a Nudibranch expedition to Kerrera, by Oban. With Keith Hiscock!

Becky Hitchin Now I want to hunt out a book showing Pentapora as Rose Coral. I got out my 1958 Collins, but no mention of it in there

Becky Hitchin It is? I blame Dawn for this new piece of information!

Douglas Herdson I am glad to see people still using the familiar "Ross Coral". I had been told we now had to used "Potato Crisp Bryozoan".

David Kipling Pringle bryozoan fits though, and is a better match to the shape ;)

Becky Hitchin I don't know what strange Pringles you eat! :P

David Kipling Well they have that curve to them that remind me of Pentapora's curves. MCS should start to do "product placement" in its field guides and earn a few extra £££!

Becky Hitchin Haven't they done enough of that this weekend?!

David Kipling Dawn ... it's Pentapora fascialis in Hayward and Ryland (1995). When did the official change from P. foliacea take place?