Chondrophellia coronata ( Verrill, 1883 )

Targino, Alessandra K. G., De Melo, Yago A. & Gomes, Paula B., 2025, Deep-sea anemones (Cnidaria, Actiniaria) from off the northeastern coast of Brazil: new records and description of Stephanauge prima sp. nov., Zootaxa 5569 (2), pp. 328-344 : 338-340

Chondrophellia coronata ( Verrill, 1883)

( Fig. 4 ; Table 6)

MATERIAL EXAMINED. MNRJ 9079 (one specimen). Atlantic Ocean , Potiguar Basin, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, station MT72 (04° 40' 10'' S, 36° 23' 51'' O), May 7, 2011, 897-908 m.

DESCRIPTION. Small, elongated body, almost perfectly cylindrical, column 15.1 mm in height and 6 mm in diameter at mid-column, divisible into scapus and short scapulus ( Fig. 4B ). Tentacles without mesogleal thickenings at base, arranged in five cycles, 72 in total. Mesenteries hexamerously arranged in four cycles. Acontia present, but rare.

CNIDOM. Spirocysts, basitrichs, microbasic p -mastigophores B1 ( Fig. 4I : p–s, Table 6).

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION. Chondrophellia coronata is known from the North Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and from the North and South Pacific ( Carlgren 1942; Doumenc & Van Präet 1988; McMurrich 1893; Molodtsova et al. 2008). In Brazil, it was recorded off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Southwest region ( Gusmão & Rodríguez 2021). The collection of specimens at the Potiguar Basin, in the northeast of the country, indicates a broader or even Panamerican distribution for this species.

REMARKS. The description of C. coronata from the Potiguar Basin is in agreement with former descriptions of this species. We found an additional larger microbasic p -mastigophore B 1 in the filaments not reported by other authors but suspect that it is the result of contamination from acontia.

Figures

FIGURE 4. External view, internal anatomy and cnidae of some sea anemones analyzed in this work. A) External view of Actinoscyphia saginata showing the bilobed oral disc. B) Specimen of Chondrophellia coronata. C) Amphianthus bathybium on Chrysogorgia tuberculata branch (arrow). D) Specimens of Amphianthus michaelsarsi, arrows showing rows of tubercles. E) Cross section of Actinoscyphia saginata column, showing cycles of mesenteries (roman numbers) and gametogenic tissue (arrows). F) Gametogenic tissue on A. saginata as viewed on the stereomicroscope (arrows). G) Mesogleal marginal sphincter band on Amphianthus bathybium (arrow). H) Cross section of mesenterial cycles present in C. coronata (roman numbers). I) Cnidae found in the sea anemones, a–e) Amphianthus bathybium; f–j) Amphianthus michaelsarsi; k–o) Actinoscyphia saginata and; p–s) C. coronata. Cnidae; a, f, k, p: Gracile spirocysts; b, g, l, q: Robust spirocysts; c, h, m, r: basitrichs; d, i, n: holotrichs; e, j, o, s: microbasic p-mastigophores B1. Abbreviations: oc, octocoral; tu, tubercles; gt, gametogenic tissue; ms, marginal sphincter. Scale bars: A: 20 mm; B, C: 5 mm; D: 2 mm; E–G: 400 μm; H: 300 μm; I: 20 μm.