Carijoa riisei, (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1860)
Carijoa riisei, the snowflake coral or branched pipe coral, is a species of soft coral in the family Clavulariidae. It was originally thought to have been native to the tropical western Atlantic Ocean and subsequently spread to other areas of the world such as Hawaii and the greater tropical Pacific, where it is regarded as an invasive species. The notion that it is native to the tropical western Atlantic was perpetuated from the fact that the type specimen, described by Duchassaing & Michelotti in 1860, was collected from the US Virgin Islands. It has subsequently been shown through molecular evidence that it is more likely that the species is in fact native to the Indo-Pacific and subsequently spread to the western tropical Atlantic most likely as a hull fouling species prior to its original description.
Carijoa riisei is a colonial soft coral with a tangled, bushy growth form. It has hollow branches that may be 30 cm (12 in) long, growing from a creeping stolon. The branches grow by budding off the stolon and have eight longitudinal furrows and a prominent polyp at the tip. The calyces in which the polyps sit are tubular, widely separated on the branches, 3 to 5 mm (1⁄8 to 3⁄16 in) long and 1.5 mm (1⁄16 in) wide. The polyps are retractible into the branches.
Carijoa riisei was originally thought to be native to the tropical and semi-tropical western Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Its range extends from South Carolina to Brazil. It is now thought to be invasive throughout its entire range in the western Atlantic Ocean. It has been found to be globally distributed and is found widely associated with shipping ports where maritime traffic is high. It was first detected in Hawaii in 1972 when it appeared in Pearl Harbor. Since then it has spread to the other islands in the archipelago. It has also been detected on many other islands in the Indo-Pacific, and on the coasts of Australia and Asia.
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