Alcyonium haddoni Wright & Studer, 1889

Pérez, Carlos Daniel & Zamponi, Mauricio Oscar, 2004, New records of octocorals (Cnidaria, Anthozoa) from the south western Atlantic Ocean, with zoogeographic considerations, Zootaxa 630, pp. 1-12 : 4

Alcyonium haddoni Wright & Studer, 1889

( Fig. 2 B)

Alcyonium haddoni Wright & Studer, 1889: 240 –241; May 1899: 6; 1900a: 105; 1900b: 402; Lüttschwager 1926: 286; Verseveldt 1967: 5 –7.

Diagnosis. See Verseveldt 1967: 5–7.

Material examined. ARGENTINA, Buenos Aires, Bahía Blanca, 40°03'S, 57°00'W, 5 May 1925, depth 164 m, Vessel “Undine”, collector Cap. Alexandersson, ( MACN 15666)

Description. Multilobate colony, 7,1 cm in height. Stalk and polyparium not clearly differentiated. Polyps uniformly covering surface of polyparium, completely retractile, calyces absent. Anthocodiae with incipient crown and points in chevrons. Torch­clubs (0.13 mm), tuberculated clubs (0.08 mm), spinous tuberculated rods (0.15 mm) and irregular small flat plates (0.03–0.07 mm) in the cortex of the coenenchyme; large spinous spindles (0.33 mm) in points; spinous spindles (0.27 mm) and tuberculated clubs (0.17 mm) in the wall of the longitudinal canals.

Distribution ( Fig. 1 ). Estuary of Rio de La Plata (36º06’S, 53º18’W; 278–282 m) ( Argentina) ( Verseveldt 1967); Polonio Cape (35º24’S, 52º30’W; 400 m) ( Uruguay) ( Castro 1990); Messier Canal (48º30’S, 74º30’W; 320 m) ( Chile) ( Wright & Studer 1889).

New record: Southern Buenos Aires Province, Bahía Blanca ( Argentina).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Geographical distribution of the studied species of octocorals in the Subantarctic Region. Alcyonium paessleri; Alcyonium haddoni; ˖ Primnoella biserialis; Primnoella compressa; ★ Dasystenella acanthina; Thouarella koellikeri.

FIGURE 2. A. Alcyonium paessleri May, 1899, alcohol sample, MACN 18635. B. Alcyonium haddoni Wright & Studer, 1889, alcohol sample, MACN 15666.