A hybrid-capture approach to reconstruct the phylogeny of Scleractinia (Cnidaria: Hexacorallia).

A well-supported evolutionary tree representing most major lineages of scleractinian corals is in sight with the development and application of phylogenomic approaches. Specifically, hybrid-capture techniques are shedding light on the evolution and systematics of corals. Here, we reconstructed a broad phylogeny of Scleractinia to test previous phylogenetic hypotheses inferred from a few molecular markers, in particular, the relationships among major scleractinian families and genera, and to identify clades that require further research. We analysed 449 nuclear loci from 422 corals, comprising 266 species spanning 26 families, combining data across whole genomes, transcriptomes, hybrid capture and low-coverage sequencing to reconstruct the largest phylogenomic tree of scleractinians to date. Due to the large number of loci and data completeness (less than 38% missing data), node supports were high across shallow and deep nodes with incongruences observed in only a few shallow nodes. The "Robust" and "Complex" clades were recovered unequivocally, and our analyses confirmed that Micrabaciidae Vaughan, 1905 is sister to the "Robust" clade, transforming our understanding of the "Basal" clade. Several families remain polyphyletic in our phylogeny, including Deltocyathiidae Kitahara, Cairns, Stolarski & Miller, 2012, Caryophylliidae Dana, 1846, and Coscinaraeidae Benzoni, Arrigoni, Stefani & Stolarski, 2012, and we hereby formally proposed the family name Pachyseridae Benzoni & Hoeksema to accommodate Pachyseris Milne Edwards & Haime, 1849, which is phylogenetically distinct from Agariciidae Gray, 1847. Results also revealed species misidentifications and inconsistencies within morphologically complex clades, such as Acropora Oken, 1815 and Platygyra Ehrenberg, 1834, underscoring the need for reference skeletal material and topotypes, as well as the importance of detailed taxonomic work. The approach and findings here provide much promise for further stabilising the topology of the scleractinian tree of life and advancing our understanding of coral evolution.

First record of Boulenger's anthias Sacura boulengeri (Heemstra 1973) in the Red Sea.

In November 2020, we observed several individuals and collected one juvenile of an unidentified anthiadine fish (Serranidae) between depths of 250 and 307 m near vertical walls of rocky reefs in the northern Red Sea. Further morphological and molecular analyses revealed that the collected specimen matches Sacura boulengeri, a species previously reported only from the Gulf of Oman to India.

Phylogeography of recent Plesiastrea (Scleractinia: Plesiastreidae) based on an integrated taxonomic approach.

Scleractinian corals are a diverse group of ecologically important yet highly threatened marine invertebrates, which can be challenging to identify to the species level. An influx of molecular studies has transformed scleractinian systematics, highlighting that cryptic species may be more common than previously understood. In this study, we test the hypothesis that Plesiastrea versipora (Lamarck, 1816), a species currently considered to occur throughout the Indo-Pacific in tropical, sub-tropical and temperate waters, is a single species. Molecular and morphological analyses were conducted on 80 samples collected from 31 sites spanning the majority of the species putative range and twelve mitogenomes were assembled to identify informative regions for phylogenetic reconstruction. Congruent genetic data across three gene regions supports the existence of two monophyletic clades aligning with distinct tropical and temperate provenances. Multivariate macromorphological analyses based on 13 corallite characters provided additional support for the phylogeographic split, with the number of septa and corallite density varying across this biogeographic divide. Furthermore, micromorphological and microstructural analyses identified that the temperate representatives typically develop sub-cerioid corallites with sparse or absent coenosteal features and smooth septal faces. In contrast, tropical representatives typically develop plocoid corallites separated by a porous dissepimental coenosteum and have granulated septal faces. These data suggest that at least two species exist within the genus PlesiastreaMilne Edwards & Haime, 1848. Based on examination of type material, we retain the name Plesiastrea versipora (Lamarck, 1816) for the temperate representatives of the genus and resurrect the name Plesiastrea peroniMilne Edwards & Haime, 1857 for the tropical members. This study highlights how broadly distributed hard coral taxa still need careful re-examination through an integrated systematics approach to better understand their phylogeographic patterns. Furthermore, it demonstrates the utility of integrating micro-, macro-morphological and genetic datasets, and the importance of type specimens when dealing with taxonomic revisions of scleractinian taxa.

Seascape genomics reveals candidate molecular targets of heat stress adaptation in three coral species.

Anomalous heat waves are causing a major decline of hard corals around the world and threatening the persistence of coral reefs. There are, however, reefs that have been exposed to recurrent thermal stress over the years and whose corals appear to have been tolerant against heat. One of the mechanisms that could explain this phenomenon is local adaptation, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly known. In this work, we applied a seascape genomics approach to study heat stress adaptation in three coral species of New Caledonia (southwestern Pacific) and to uncover the molecular actors potentially involved. We used remote sensing data to characterize the environmental trends across the reef system, and sampled corals living at the most contrasted sites. These samples underwent next generation sequencing to reveal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), frequencies of which were associated with heat stress gradients. As these SNPs might underpin an adaptive role, we characterized the functional roles of the genes located in their genomic region. In each of the studied species, we found heat stress-associated SNPs located in proximity of genes involved in pathways well known to contribute to the cellular responses against heat, such as protein folding, oxidative stress homeostasis, inflammatory and apoptotic pathways, and DNA damage-repair. In some cases, the same candidate molecular targets of heat stress adaptation recurred among species. Together, these results underline the relevance and the power of the seascape genomics approach for the discovery of adaptive traits that could allow corals to persist across wider thermal ranges.

Phylogenomics of Porites from the Arabian Peninsula.

The advent of high throughput sequencing technologies provides an opportunity to resolve phylogenetic relationships among closely related species. By incorporating hundreds to thousands of unlinked loci and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), phylogenomic analyses have a far greater potential to resolve species boundaries than approaches that rely on only a few markers. Scleractinian taxa have proved challenging to identify using traditional morphological approaches and many groups lack an adequate set of molecular markers to investigate their phylogenies. Here, we examine the potential of Restriction-site Associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) to investigate phylogenetic relationships and species limits within the scleractinian coral genus Porites. A total of 126 colonies were collected from 16 localities in the seas surrounding the Arabian Peninsula and ascribed to 12 nominal and two unknown species based on their morphology. Reference mapping was used to retrieve and compare nearly complete mitochondrial genomes, ribosomal DNA, and histone loci. De novo assembly and reference mapping to the P. lobata coral transcriptome were compared and used to obtain thousands of genome-wide loci and SNPs. A suite of species discovery methods (phylogenetic, ordination, and clustering analyses) and species delimitation approaches (coalescent-based, species tree, and Bayesian Factor delimitation) suggested the presence of eight molecular lineages, one of which included six morphospecies. Our phylogenomic approach provided a fully supported phylogeny of Porites from the Arabian Peninsula, suggesting the power of RADseq data to solve the species delineation problem in this speciose coral genus.

Cryptic species and host specificity in the bryozoan-associated hydrozoan Zanclea divergens (Hydrozoa, Zancleidae).

Zanclea divergens is a tropical hydrozoan living in symbiotic association with bryozoans and currently reported from Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and Maldives. Here, we used an integrative approach to assess the morpho-molecular diversity of the species across the Indo-Pacific. Phylogenetic and species delimitation analyses based on seven mitochondrial and nuclear loci revealed four well-supported molecular lineages corresponding to cryptic species, and representing a Pacific clade, an Indian clade, and two Red Sea clades. Since the general polyp morphology was almost identical in all samples, the nematocyst capsules were measured and analysed to search for possible fine-scale differences, and their statistical treatment revealed a significant difference in terms of length and width among the clades investigated. All Zanclea divergens specimens were specifically associated with cheilostome bryozoans belonging to the genus Celleporaria. The Pacific and Indian clades were associated with Celleporaria sp. and C. vermiformis, respectively, whereas both Red Sea lineages were associated with C. pigmentaria. Nevertheless, the sequencing of host bryozoans revealed that one of the Red Sea hydrozoan clades is associated with two morphologically undistinguishable, but genetically divergent, bryozoan species. Overall, our results show that Z. divergens is a species complex composed of morphologically cryptic lineages showing partially disjunct distributions and host specificity. The presence of two sympatric lineages living on the same host species reveal complex dynamics of diversification, and future research aimed at understanding their diversification process will likely improve our knowledge on the mechanisms of speciation among currently sympatric cryptic species.

Uncovering hidden coral diversity: a new cryptic lobophylliid scleractinian from the Indian Ocean.

Extant biodiversity can easily be underestimated owing to the presence of cryptic taxa, even among commonly observed species. Scleractinian corals are challenging to identify because of their ecophenotypic variation and morphological plasticity. In addition, molecular analyses have revealed the occurrence of cryptic speciation. Here, we describe a new cryptic lobophylliid genus and species Paraechinophyllia variabilis gen. nov., sp. nov., which is morphologically similar to Echinophyllia aspera and E. orpheensis. The new taxon occurs in Mayotte Island, Madagascar, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. Six molecular markers (COI, 12S, ATP6-NAD4, NAD3-NAD5, histone H3 and ITS) and 46 morphological characters at three different levels (macromorphology, micromorphology and microstructure) were examined. The resulting molecular phylogenetic reconstruction showed that Paraechinophyllia gen. nov. represents a distinct group within the Lobophylliidae that diverged from the lineage leading to Echinophyllia and Oxypora in the Early Miocene, approximately 21.5 Ma. The morphological phylogenetic reconstruction clustered Paraechinophyllia gen. nov., Echinophyllia and Oxypora together in a single clade. A sole morphological character, calice relief, discriminated Paraechinophyllia gen. nov. from the latter two genera, suggesting that limited morphological variation has occurred over a long period. These results highlight the importance of cryptic taxa in reef corals, with implications for population genetics, ecological studies and conservation.

Elemental variability in the coralline alga Lithophyllum yemenense as an archive of past climate in the Gulf of Aden (NW Indian Ocean).

This study presents the first algal thallus (skeleton) archive of Asian monsoon strength and Red Sea influence in the Gulf of Aden. Mg/Ca, Li/Ca, and Ba/Ca were measured in Lithophyllum yemenense from Balhaf (Gulf of Aden) using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and Mg/Ca ratio oscillation was used to reconstruct the chronology (34 y). Oscillations of element rates corresponding to the algal growth between 1974 and 2008 were compared with recorded climate and oceanographic variability. During this period, sea surface temperatures (SST) in Balhaf recorded a warming trend of 0.55°C, corresponding to an increase in Mg and Li content in the algal thallus of 2.1 mol-% and 1.87 µmol-%, respectively. Lithophyllum yemenense recorded decadal SST variability by Li/Ca, and the influence of the Pacific El-Niño Southern Oscillation on the NW Indian Ocean climate system by Ba/Ca. Additionally, algal Mg/Ca, Li/Ca, and Ba/Ca showed strong and significant correlations with All Indian Rainfall in the decadal range indicating that these proxies can be useful for tracking variability in the Indian monsoon system, possibly due to changes of the surface wind system, with deep water upwelling in summer, and a distinct seasonality.

Species delimitation in the coral genus Goniopora (Scleractinia, Poritidae) from the Saudi Arabian Red Sea.

Variable skeletal morphology, genotype induced plasticity, and homoplasy of skeletal structures have presented major challenges for scleractinian coral taxonomy and systematics since the 18th century. Although the recent integration of genetic and micromorphological data is helping to clarify the taxonomic confusion within the order, phylogenetic relationships and species delimitation within most coral genera are still far from settled. In the present study, the species boundaries in the scleractinian coral genus Goniopora were investigated using 199 colonies from the Saudi Arabian Red Sea and sequencing of four molecular markers: the mitochondrial intergenic spacer between CytB and NAD2, the nuclear ribosomal ITS region, and two single-copy nuclear genes (ATPsß and CalM). DNA sequence data were analyzed using a variety of methods and exploratory species-delimitation tools. The results were broadly congruent in identifying five distinct molecular lineages within the sequenced Goniopora samples: G. somaliensis/G. savignyi, G. djiboutiensis/G. lobata, G. stokesi, G. albiconus/G. tenuidens, and G. minor/G. gracilis. Although the traditional macromorphological characters used to identify these nine morphospecies were not able to discriminate the obtained molecular clades, informative micromorphological and microstructural features (such as the micro-ornamentation and the arrangement of the columella) were recovered among the five lineages. Moreover, unique in vivo morphologies were associated with the genetic-delimited lineages, further supporting the molecular findings. This study represents the first attempt to identify species boundaries within Goniopora using a combined morpho-molecular approach. The obtained data establish a basis for future taxonomic revision of the genus, which should include colonies across its entire geographical distribution in the Indo-Pacific.

Species delimitation in the reef coral genera Echinophyllia and Oxypora (Scleractinia, Lobophylliidae) with a description of two new species.

Scleractinian corals are affected by environment-induced phenotypic plasticity and intraspecific morphological variation caused by genotype. In an effort to identify new strategies for resolving this taxonomic issue, we applied a molecular approach for species evaluation to two closely related genera, Echinophyllia and Oxypora, for which few molecular data are available. A robust multi-locus phylogeny using DNA sequence data across four loci of both mitochondrial (COI, ATP6-NAD4) and nuclear (histone H3, ITS region) origin from 109 coral colonies was coupled with three independent putative species delimitation methods based on barcoding threshold (ABGD) and coalescence theory (PTP, GMYC). Observed overall congruence across multiple genetic analyses distinguished two traditional species (E. echinoporoides and O. convoluta), a species complex composed of E. aspera, E. orpheensis, E. tarae, and O. glabra, whereas O. lacera and E. echinata were indistinguishable with the sequenced loci. The combination of molecular species delimitation approaches and skeletal character observations allowed the description of two new reef coral species, E. bulbosa sp. n. from the Red Sea and E. gallii sp. n. from the Maldives and Mayotte. This work demonstrated the efficiency of multi-locus phylogenetic analyses and recently developed molecular species delimitation approaches as valuable tools to disentangle taxonomic issues caused by morphological ambiguities and to re-assess the diversity of scleractinian corals.

Lobophylliidae (Cnidaria, Scleractinia) reshuffled: pervasive non-monophyly at genus level.

The Indo-Pacific scleractinian coral family Lobophylliidae was recently described on the basis of molecular data and micromorphological and microstructural characters. We present the most comprehensive molecular phylogeny reconstruction of the family to date based on COI and rDNA including 9 genera and 32 species, 14 of which were investigated for the first time. The monophyly of the family is now strongly supported, with the inclusion of the genera Acanthastrea and Micromussa, whereas previously it was based on uncertain molecular relationships. Nevertheless, these and the other lobophylliid genera Echinophyllia, Micromussa, Oxypora, and Symphyllia, are not themselves monophyletic and need to be investigated from a morphological point of view. Acanthastrea faviaformis is nested within the family Merulinidae. This study highlights the need for further analyses at species level and of formal taxonomic actions.

A holistic approach to marine eco-systems biology.

The structure, robustness, and dynamics of ocean plankton ecosystems remain poorly understood due to sampling, analysis, and computational limitations. The Tara Oceans consortium organizes expeditions to help fill this gap at the global level.

Molecular diversity of black corals from the Saudi Arabian Red Sea: a first assessment.

Black corals occur as part of benthic assemblages from shallow to deep waters in all oceans. Despite the importance in many benthic ecosystems, where these act as biodiversity aggregators, antipatharians remain poorly studied, with 75% of the known species occurring below recreational SCUBA diving depth limits. Currently, information regarding the diversity and evolutionary history is limited, with most studies focusing on Hawaii and the South Pacific Ocean. Other regions of the world have received less attention, such as the Red Sea, where only two black coral families and four genera have been recorded. We provide the first analysis of the molecular diversity of black corals in the eastern Gulf of Aqaba and the northern and central Saudi Arabian Red Sea, based on a dataset of 161 antipatharian colonies collected down to 627 m deep. Based on specimen morphology, we ascribed our material to 11 genera belonging to 4 of the 7 known Antipatharia families, i.e. Antipathidae, Aphanipathidae, Myriopathidae and Schizopathidae. The genus level phylogeny of three intergenic mitochondrial regions, the trnW-IGR-nad2 (IgrW ), nad5-IGR-nad1 (IgrN ) and cox3-IGR-cox1 was reconstructed including previously published material. Overall, we recovered six molecular clades that included exclusively Red Sea sequences, with the highest diversity occurring at mesophotic depths. This study highlights that diversity of black corals in the Red Sea is much higher than previously known, with seven new generic records, suggesting that this basin may be a hotspot for antipatharian diversity as is known for other taxa. Our results recovered unresolved relationships within the order at the familial and generic levels. This emphasises the urgent need for an integration of genomic-wide data with a re-examination of informative morphological features necessary to revise the systematics of the order at all taxonomic levels.

Probiotics reshape the coral microbiome in situ without detectable off-target effects in the surrounding environment.

Beneficial microorganisms for corals (BMCs), or probiotics, can enhance coral resilience against stressors in laboratory trials. However, the ability of probiotics to restructure the coral microbiome in situ is yet to be determined. As a first step to elucidate this, we inoculated putative probiotic bacteria (pBMCs) on healthy colonies of Pocillopora verrucosa in situ in the Red Sea, three times per week, during 3 months. pBMCs significantly influenced the coral microbiome, while bacteria of the surrounding seawater and sediment remained unchanged. The inoculated genera Halomonas, Pseudoalteromonas, and Bacillus were significantly enriched in probiotic-treated corals. Furthermore, the probiotic treatment also correlated with an increase in other beneficial groups (e.g., Ruegeria and Limosilactobacillus), and a decrease in potential coral pathogens, such as Vibrio. As all corals (treated and non-treated) remained healthy throughout the experiment, we could not track health improvements or protection against stress. Our data indicate that healthy, and therefore stable, coral microbiomes can be restructured in situ, although repeated and continuous inoculations may be required in these cases. Further, our study provides supporting evidence that, at the studied scale, pBMCs have no detectable off-target effects on the surrounding microbiomes of seawater and sediment near inoculated corals.

Description of a new species of the Alpheus edwardsii group (Decapoda: Alpheidae) with a distinctive colour pattern from the Indo-West Pacific.

A new snapping shrimp species of the Alpheus edwardsii (Audouin, 1826) group is described based on two specimens, one male and one female, collected on shallow-water reef flats of the Southern Ari Atoll in the Maldives, with a photographic record from Cebu in the Philippines. Alpheus octocellatus sp. nov. appears to be morphologically closest to A. edwardsii, A. pareuchirus Coutière, 1905, and A. leptochirus Coutière, 1905, but can be distinguished from all of them by a combination of morphological characters, mainly involving the chelipeds, third maxilliped and pleonal sternites. The new species also has a highly diagnostic colour pattern, with four pairs of conspicuous eyespots distributed in a unique and peculiar pattern on the pleon.

Hidden in plain sight: two new species of decapod crustaceans (Palaemonidae and Porcellanidae) discovered in the Red Sea on a university campus in Saudi Arabia.

Two new symbiotic species of decapod crustaceans, a palaemonid shrimp and a porcellanid crab, are described from the same type locality situated on the campus of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Thuwal, on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia. The palaemonid shrimp Palaemonella jamila sp. nov. is described based on one male and one female, whereas the porcellanid crab Enosteoides habibi sp. nov. is described based on three males and two females. Unfortunately, the originally collected and studied specimens were lost shortly after study. However, subsequent recollection of one specimen of P. jamila sp. nov. and one specimen of E. habibi sp. nov. enabled to deposit a holotype of each new species in the collections of the Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, USA. Both species inhabit burrows of goby-associated snapping shrimps, Alpheus spp., in the shallow subtidal areas, at depths less than 1 m. In addition, a single female specimen of Palaemonella aliska Marin, 2008 collected at Al Fahal reef off KAUST represents the first record of the species in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and a considerable range extension of its previously known distribution range. This species may be a close relative of P. jamila sp. nov., to which it is also ecologically similar. The present study highlights the necessity of prospecting the largely neglected and still undersampled shallow subtidal habitats of the Red Sea, and the Indo-West Pacific in general.

Interspecific coral competition does not affect the symbiosis of gall crabs (Decapoda: Cryptochiridae) and their scleractinian hosts.

Coral reefs accommodate a myriad of species, many of which live in association with a host organism. Decapod crustaceans make up a large part of this associated fauna on coral reefs. Among these, cryptochirid crabs are obligately associated with scleractinian corals, in which they create dwellings where they permanently reside. These gall crabs show various levels of host specificity, with the majority of cryptochirids inhabiting a specific coral genus or species. Here, we report the first records of gall crabs living in association with two different Porites species in the Red Sea. Crescent-shaped dwellings were observed in Porites rus and a Porites sp. in situ, and colonies with crabs were collected for further study in the laboratory. Using a combination of morphology and DNA barcoding, the crabs were identified as belonging to Opecarcinus, a genus only known to inhabit Agariciidae corals. The coral skeleton was bleached and studied under a stereo microscope, which revealed that the Porites corals overgrew adjoining agariciid Pavona colonies. We hypothesize that the gall crab originally settled on Pavona, its primary host of choice. Due to coral interspecific competition the Porites colony overgrew the adjacent Pavona colonies, resulting in a secondary and never before reported association of Opecarcinus with Porites. These findings suggest that cryptochirid crabs can adapt to the new microenvironment provided by a different coral host and survive competition for space on coral reefs.

Molecular phylogeny of the Robust clade (Faviidae, Mussidae, Merulinidae, and Pectiniidae): an Indian Ocean perspective.

Recent phylogenetic analyses have demonstrated the limits of traditional coral taxonomy based solely on skeletal morphology. In this phylogenetic context, Faviidae and Mussidae are ecologically dominant families comprising one third of scleractinian reef coral genera, but their phylogenies remain partially unresolved. Many of their taxa are scattered throughout most of the clades of the Robust group, and major systematic incongruences exist. Numerous genera and species remain unstudied, and the entire biogeographic area of the Indian Ocean remains largely unsampled. In this study, we analyzed a portion of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene and a portion of ribosomal DNA for 14 genera and 27 species of the Faviidae and Mussidae collected from the Indian Ocean and New Caledonia and this is the first analysis of five of these species. For some taxa, newly discovered evolutionary relationships were detected, such as the evolutionary distinctiveness of Acanthastrea maxima, the genetic overlap of Parasimplastrea omanensis and Blastomussa merleti, and the peculiar position of Favites peresi in clade XVII together with Echinopora and Montastraea salebrosa. Moreover, numerous cases of intraspecific divergences between Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean populations were detected. The most striking cases involve the genera Favites and Favia, and in particular Favites complanata, F. halicora, Favia favus, F. pallida, F. matthaii, and F. rotumana, but divergence also is evident in Blastomussa merleti, Cyphastrea serailia, and Echinopora gemmacea. High morphological variability characterizes most of these taxa, thus traditional skeletal characteristics, such as corallite arrangement, seem to be evolutionary misleading and are plagued by convergence. Our results indicate that the systematics of the Faviidae and the Mussidae is far from being resolved and that the inclusion of conspecific populations of different geographical origin represents an unavoidable step when redescribing the taxonomy and systematics of scleractinian corals. More molecular phylogenies are needed to define the evolutionary lineages that could be corroborated by known and newly discovered micromorphological characters.

Stylophora under stress: A review of research trends and impacts of stressors on a model coral species.

Sometimes called the "lab rat" of coral research, Stylophora pistillata (Esper, 1797) has been extensively used in coral biology in studies ranging from reef ecology to coral metabolic processes, and has been used as a model for investigations into molecular and cellular biology. Previously thought to be a common species spanning a wide distribution through the Indo-Pacific region, "S. pistillata" is in fact four genetically distinct lineages (clades) with different evolutionary histories and geographical distributions. Here, we review the studies of stress responses of S. pistillatasensulato (clades 1-4) and highlight research trends and knowledge gaps. We identify 126 studies on stress responses including effects of temperature, acidification, eutrophication, pollutants and other local impacts. We find that most studies have focused on the effect of single stressors, especially increased temperature, and have neglected the combined effects of multiple stressors. Roughly 61% of studies on S. pistillata come from the northern Red Sea (clade 4), at the extreme limit of its current distribution; clades 2 and 3 are virtually unstudied. The overwhelming majority of studies were conducted in laboratory or mesocosm conditions, with field experiments constituting only 2% of studies. We also note that a variety of experimental designs and treatment conditions makes it difficult to draw general conclusions about the effects of particular stressors on S. pistillata. Given those knowledge gaps and limitations in the published research, we suggest a more standardized approach to compare responses across geographically disparate populations and more accurately anticipate responses to predicted future climate conditions.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Dendrophyllia minuscula (Cnidaria: Scleractinia) from the NEOM region of the Northern Red Sea.

The scleractinian coral family Dendrophylliidae is a major component of shallow and deep-water coral ecosystems worldwide, but our knowledge on the evolutionary history of the family remains scarce. Here, we used ezRAD coupled with Illumina sequencing technology and reconstructed the complete mitochondrial genome of Dendrophyllia minuscula (GenBank accession number OL634845), from mesophotic depths in the Red Sea NEOM area. The mitochondrial genome of D. minuscula consisted of 19,054 bp, organized in 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNA genes, and 2 tRNA genes, in agreement with the Scleractinia typical mitogenome organization. This complete mitochondrial genome contributes toward a better knowledge of mesophotic and deep-water coral diversity and evolutionary history.