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Possible vestige of early phosphatic biomineralization in gorgonian octocorals (Coelenterata)

¹ Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560, USA
² Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560, USA
³ Department of Mineral Sciences, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560, USA
⁴ Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, P.O. Box 208109, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA

Skeletal carbonate hydroxylapatite, heretofore unknown in modern coelenterates, has been found in the axes and holdfasts of the gorgonian octocoral family Gorgoniidae. This carbonate apatite is a distinctive feature of this family of octocorals and may indicate a previous history of phosphatic skeletal mineralization within this phylum.

Key Words: octocorals • biomineralization • skeletal carbonate hydroxylapatite • Gorgoniidae