Bellonella rubistella ( Deichmann, 1936 )

Devictor, Susan T. & Morton, Steve L., 2010, Identification guide to the shallow water (0 - 200 m) octocorals of the South Atlantic Bight 2599, Zootaxa 2599 (1), pp. 1-62 : 30-31

Bellonella rubistella ( Deichmann, 1936)

( Figure 29 )

Alcyonium rubistella Deichmann, 1936:49 ; Plate 1 fig 2; Plate 3 figs. 1–7.

Bellonella rubistella . — Verseveldt 1978:42; Fig. 1a–n ; Fig. 2a–p ; Plate 1.— Verseveldt and Bayer 1988:25.

Material examined. NMNH 55376 , 60 – 71 m, off Venezuela, July , 21, 1968 ; SERTC S 2363, 92 m, off Charleston, SC, April 12, 1974 .

Remarks. This species is the only member of the Alcyoniidae found in the shallow SAB, and typically inhabits deeper areas. This work represents the first record of Bellonella rubistella in the SAB.

The colony from the SAB examined here is smaller than the USNM specimens from more southern or tropical localities. The colony is unbranched and attached to a piece of rock. The base is 8 mm wide and total length is 17 mm. The calyces are more crowded at the tip and the stalk near the base is bare. The calyces are 1.5 mm in diameter and appear light pink around the apertures, when contracted they have eight lobes which develop into eight grooves along the colony surface. The partially exsert anthocodiae reveal a collaret and points arrangement of the sclerites. The coenenchyme is ivory.

The stalk bears sclerites in the form of elongate acute spindles, slightly flattened, up to 0.3 mm in length, club-like spindles, and small (<0.1 mm) tuberculated rods. The anthocodiae contain sclerites as elongate needles, some curved, 0.2–0.5 mm in length. Most spindles are white with pink rods occurring in the calyces.

Other colonies from tropical regions are recorded as having a digitiform shape that narrows distally to more or less a point, and bright red calyces ( Verseveldt 1978). The examined specimen more closely resembles the figure in Deichmann (1936) than those in Verseveldt (1978).

Atlantic distribution: South Carolina, Florida, Caribbean, Colombia to Venezuela, 24–366 m ( Deichmann 1936; Verseveldt, 1978; Verseveldt and Bayer 1988; NMNH collections; SERTC collection).

Figures

FIGURE 1. The South Atlantic Bight, which includes coastal waters between Cape Hatteras and Cape Canaveral, USA. The 200 m isobath is shown.

FIGURE 2. Branching colony forms; a) dichotomous (Iciligorgia schrammi); b) monopodial (Telesto sp.); c) whip-like branches (Leptogorgia virgulata); d) rod-like branches (Titanideum frauenfeldii); e) open, irregularly pinnate (Muricea pendula) f) planar (Leptogorgia hebes); g) lobed, with clusters of polyps (Pseudodrifa nigra).

FIGURE 29. Bellonella rubistella (preserved specimen, S2363): A, sclerites; a) spindle from anthocodia; b,c, e–g) spindles from coenenchyme; d) club from coenenchyme (scale bar = 0.1 mm); B, calyx and anthocodia, showing collaret and points; C, colony (height approximately 17 mm).