Eudendrium armatum

Moura, Carlos J., 2015, The hydrozoan fauna (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) from the peaks of the Ormonde and Gettysburg seamounts (Gorringe Bank, NE Atlantic), Zootaxa 3972 (2), pp. 148-180 : 152

Eudendrium armatum

(fig. 2E)

Eudendrium armatum Tichomiroff, 1887: 31 , fig. 25, pl. 1 figs 3–4, pl. 2, figs 3–4.— Marques et al., 2000a: 82 –84, figs 16– 18.— Marques et al., 2000b: 202.— Schuchert, 2008: 744 –746, fig. 35.

Material studied. Ormonde, stn 1: few colonies, on rock, epibionts: small algae, calcified Bryozoa (infesting a dead colony); DBUA 1511.07. Ormonde, stn 4: one colony, on rock, epibionts: Clytia hemisphaerica , calcified Bryozoa and small algae; DBUA 1511.01. Gettysburg, stn 5: some colonies on rocks (found amidst sponges), epibionts: algae and calcified Bryozoa; DBUA 1511.02. Gettysburg, stn 7: many colonies (including large colonies), overgrowing rocks, algae, sponges and Bryozoa; fertile colonies; epibionts: Bougainvilliidae indet., Halecium sp., Clytia cf. gracilis, Foraminifera , calcified Bryozoa, polychaetes, algae; DBUA 1511.03. Gettysburg, stn 8: few small colonies; epibionts: small algae; DBUA 1511.04. Gettysburg, stn 9: large colonies, fertile, on rock and dead octocoral; epibionts: small algae, calcified Bryozoa and Foraminifera; DBUA 1511.05. Gettysburg, stn 10: two colonies (one much larger), on rock, epibionts: small algae, two species of calcified Bryozoa, DBUA 1511.06, Genbank accession no. KM402025 .

Remarks. Molecular data confirmed the identity of this species. The 16S sequence determined from one colony of the Gettysburg presented no sequence divergence with samples from Berlengas–western Portugal and Mediterranean (Moura & Schuchert, unpublished sequences and analyses).

Reported distribution. Eastern Atlantic.—The present account is the first of E. armatum outside the Mediterranean. Species also found in Berlengas–western Portugal (Moura, unpublished; see above).

Mediterranean.—Western and eastern Mediterranean: Gibraltar ( Marques et al. 2000b); Spain ( Marinopoulos 1992; Schuchert 2008); France ( Marinopoulos 1992; Schuchert 2008); Italy ( Boero & Fresi 1986; Marques et al. 2000a, b; Schuchert 2008; Puce et al. 2009); Greece (Morri et al. 1999; Schuchert 2008).

Elsewhere.— E. armatum was assumed to be endemic from the Mediterranean (e.g. Marques et al. 2000b). Its presence in the Gorringe represents the first report in the Atlantic.