2.1. Soft Coral Collection

The marine soft coral Nephthea sp. (1.5 kg) was obtained in March 2021 at a depth of 7 m off the coast of Hurghada on the Red Sea (2,715,048″ N, 334,903″ E). The Invertebrates Department, National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Red Sea Branch, Hurghada, Egypt, was provided with a voucher sample (NIOF730/2021). The soft coral was identified by El-Sayd Abed El-Aziz (Department of Invertebrates Lab., National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Red Sea Branch, 84511 Hurghada, Egypt). The soft coral biomass was transferred to a plastic bag containing seawater and transported to the laboratory. The soft coral specimens were rinsed in sterile seawater, cut into pieces of ca. 1 cm³, and then thoroughly homogenized in a sterile mortar with 10 volumes of sterile seawater. The supernatant was diluted in a ten-fold series (10⁻¹, 10⁻², and 10⁻³) and subsequently plated on agar plates.