{{Short description|Species of coral}} {{Speciesbox | image = Sea strawberry, Gersemia rubiformis, a soft coral in Newfoundland, Canada (21391129845).jpg | taxon = Gersemia rubiformis | authority = (Ehrenberg, 1834) <ref name=WoRMS>{{cite WoRMS |author= van der Land, Jacob |year=2010 |title=''Gersemia rubiformis'' (Ehrenberg, 1834) |id=156103 |accessdate=2012-01-25 |db=}}</ref> | synonyms = * ''Capnella rubiformis''<small> (Ehrenberg, 1834)</small> * ''Eunephthya rubiformis''<small> (Ehrenberg, 1834)</small> * ''Lobularia rubiformis''<small> Eherenberg, 1834</small> | synonyms_ref = <ref name=WoRMS/> }}
'''''Gersemia rubiformis''''', commonly known as the '''sea strawberry''', is a species of soft coral in the family Nephtheidae.<ref name=WoRMS/> It is found in the northwest Atlantic and the northeast Pacific Oceans.
==Description== ''Gersemia rubiformis'' is a colonial coral that grows in the form of knobbly clumps. The colonies are erect and branch from one main stalk. The polyps are concentrated near the ends of the narrower terminal branches and are non-retractile in their calyces. The branches are not rigid but are stiffened by the presence of sclerites, and can sway gently in the current. The sclerites are red, some being irregular and shaped like miniature capstans. ''Gersemia rubiformis'' does not contain the symbiotic alga zooxanthella.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Williams, Gary C. |author2=L. Lundsten |year=2009 |title=The nephtheid soft coral genus ''Gersemia'' Marenzeller, 1878, with the description of a new species from the north east Pacific and a review of two additional species (Octocorallia: Alcyonacea) |journal=Zoologische Mededelingen |volume=83 |url=http://www.zoologischemededelingen.nl/83/nr04/a34 }}</ref>
==Distribution== ''Gersemia rubiformis'' is found in polar to temperate regions of the Arctic Ocean and the north west Atlantic Ocean from the coasts of Canada south to Cape Hatteras in North Carolina.<ref name=WoRMS/> A separate population is found in the Pacific Ocean off the coasts of British Columbia and south to California.<ref name=Cembrane>{{cite journal |author=Williams, David |author2=Raymond J. Andersen |author3=Gregory D. Van Duyne |author4=Jon Clardy |author4-link=Jon Clardy |year=1987 |title=Cembrane and pseudopterane diterpenes from the soft coral ''Gersemia rubiformis'' |journal=Journal of Organic Chemistry |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=332–335 |doi=10.1021/jo00379a002 }}</ref> It occurs on both sandy and muddy substrates, on rocks and on the hard parts of other benthic invertebrates such as shells.<ref name=WoRMS/>
==Ecology== Many other marine invertebrates share the habitat of ''Gersemia rubiformis''. Juvenile basket stars (''Gorgonocephalus eucnemis'') are often found clinging to the coral and hiding in the interstices. The white sea anemone ''Metridium senile'' often grows nearby and the rock scallop (''Crassadoma gigantea'') shares the same habitat in California.<ref>[http://www.coldwaterimages.com/sea_strawberry.html Sea strawberry, ''Gersemia rubiformis''] Cold Water Images. Retrieved 2012-01-25.</ref>
In Puget Sound, juvenile basket stars (''Gorgonocephalus eucnemis'') have been found to be living, growing and feeding inside the pharynges of ''Gersemia rubiformis'' polyps, only becoming free-living when they have grown large enough to catch food for themselves.<ref>[http://www.wallawalla.edu/academics/departments/biology/rosario/inverts/Echinodermata/Class%20Ophiuroidea/Gorgonocephalus_eucnemis.html ''Gorgonocephalus eucnemis'' Muller and Troschel, 1842] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101115065916/http://www.wallawalla.edu/academics/departments/biology/rosario/inverts/Echinodermata/Class%20Ophiuroidea/Gorgonocephalus_eucnemis.html |date=2010-11-15 }} Walla Walla University. Retrieved 2012-01-25.</ref>
==Research== Researchers in British Columbia found that extracts of ''Gersemia rubiformis'' showed antimicrobial activity when tested in vitro. They identified three novel diterpenoids which they named gersemolide, rubifolide and epilophodione.<ref name=Cembrane/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2006197}}
Category:Nephtheidae Category:Corals described in 1834 Category:Taxa named by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg