Biodiversity of order Zoantharia in the Persian Gulf: Hormoz Island

The order Zoantharia (Zoanthids) is one of the most neglected orders of Cnidarians in the Persian Gulf. The present study aims to investigate the biodiversity of this order with morphological and molecular examination in Hormoz Island. For this purpose 34 colonies of zoanthids with variety of shape and colors have been collected of intertidal and shallow water region of Hormoz Island. After sampling, morphological characteristic of each specimen were recorded based in situ photographs. Then DNA was extracted using the CTAB- Chloroform method and mt 16s rDNA gene fragment was amplified and sequenced. The results of preliminary morphological identification integrated with mitochondrial marker sequencing demonstrated the presence of at least three different species in Hormoz Island; Zoanthus sansibaricus, Palythoa cf. mutuki and Palythoa tuberculosa. Although at first sight, morphological characteristics were not successful to identify zoanthid to the species level, after molecular identification they establish as reliable criteria to identify and delineate species.