Calcigorgia japonica Dautova, 2007

Matsumoto, Asako K., Van Ofwegen, Leen P. & Bayer, Frederick M., 2019, A revision of the genus Calcigorgia (Cnidaria, Octocorallia, Acanthogorgiidae) with the description of three new species, Zootaxa 4571 (1), pp. 1-27 : 11-15

Calcigorgia japonica Dautova, 2007

Figures 1c , 9 ab, 10–12

Calcigorgia japonica Dautova, 2007: 302 (39°35'N, 135°01'E, Sea of Japan, 832– 736 m deep, silted sand, 8 August 1933, coll. K.M. Deryugin); 2018: 11.

Material examined. ZIN 11678, Skaly Lovushki I., Sea of Okhotsk , “Novoulyanovsk”, fishery bottom trawl Ñ79 (maybe = Ottertrawl), bottom: unknown (trawl has been torn to pieces; all animals were collected from warps), coll. Alexander Ereskovsky, 4 October 1984 ; ZIN 11661, Ketoi I., Sea of Okhotsk, 47°12'8N 152°38'1E, depth 900 m, bottom: pebbles, Ship “Odissey” Cruise 34, St. 27, small dredge, coll. Mikhail Kolesnikov and Vyacheslav Bizikov, 10 January 1985; ZIN 11662, Skaly Lovushki I., Sea of Okhotsk , 48°02'17N 154°24'05 E, depth 580 m, bottom: stones, gravel, ship “Odissey” st. 18, small dredge, coll. Boris Sirenko and Mikhail Kolesnikov, 3 August 1984 ; ZIN 11675, Skaly Lovushki I., Sea of Okhotsk , 48°48'54N 153°43'00E, depth 800–1000 m, “Novoulyanovsk”, fishery bottom trawl Ñ79 (maybe = Ottertrawl), bottom: unknown (trawl has been torn to pieces; all animals were collected from warps), coll. Sergey Grebelnyi and Alexander Ereskovsky, 4 October 1984; USNM 100816 N of Four Mountains , Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea, 52°52.69’N 169°58.78’W, depth 62 m, bottom temp. 4.5 °C, R/ V Vesteraalen cruise 94-1, haul 40, 11 June 1994, three nearly complete colonies; USNM 1004642 Bering Sea , 52°N 177°W, field number AB 01-66; USNM 1006154 east of the Delray Islands , Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea, 51.6962°N 178.342°W, depth 280 m, R/ V Spirit of the North, field number AB 01-64, sample #16, coll. Renfro, K., 3 March 2000, one nearly complete colony; USNM 1116869 British Colombia, Canada, North Pacific Ocean, 48.3007°N 124.935°W, depth 227.9 m, Deep Sea Coral and Sponge Habitat Expedition, cruise 958, st. 132, ROV Ropos, 1 June 2006 .

Description. ZIN 11678 are two fragments of a colony ( Figure 9a ). The polyps are arranged spirally around the branches, they are about 5 mm high and 2 mm wide. Tentacles without sclerites. Polyps with spindles and clubs, up to 0.35 mm long, with simple tubercles ( Figure 10a ). The clubs with very spiny heads. The coenenchyme with capstans, small spindles and crosses, up to 0.12 mm long, with simple tubercles ( Figure 10 b–c).

Colour. The fragments are brown and the sclerites are colorless.

Distribution. Sea of Japan in 832– 736 m, Sea of Okhotsk in 580–1000 m, Bering Sea - 280 m, West coast of North-American continent, NE Pacific in 227.9 m ( Figure 1c ).

Remarks. The long spiny clubs of the polyps of this species are unique in the genus Calcigorgia . USNM 1116869, the only examined material from the NE Pacific, has well developed more foliate clubs ( Figure 11b ), the other sclerites are typical C. japonica except for some flattened rods and spindles ( Figure 11a, c ). USNM 100816 has immature clubs ( Figure 12a ) and most of the sclerites are larger than in the other specimens ( Figure 12 ). Specimens of C. japonica , previously known from only a single fragment, from the Sea of Japan ( Dautova, 2007), from four localities of Sea of Okhotsk, with depth range 580–1000 m, two localities in Bering Sea, up to 280 m deep, and one locality on the west coast of the North-American continent, in 227.9 m, extend the distribution range of the species.

We here present the nearly complete colony of USNM1006154 from the West Bering Sea ( Figure 9b ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Distribution map of Calcigorgia species: a. C. beringi (Δ) and C. gigantea. (D) b. C. gracilis sp. n.(-) and C. pacifica sp. n. (+), c. C. japonica (O) (including the type locality data from Dautova 2007) and C. matua (×) and C. matua from Dautova 2018 (•), d. C. spiculifera (Ɨ), type locality data from Broch 1935 (Ɨ), C. simushiri(= C. spiculifera) from Dautova, 2018 (D),? C. spiculifera in Dautova, 2018 (-).

FIGURE 9. a Calcigorgia japonica Dautova, 2007, ZIN11678 b USNM1116869.

FIGURE 10. Calcigorgia japonica Dautova, 2007, ZIN 11678 a clubs b capstans and spindles c crosses.

FIGURE 11 Calcigorgia japonica Dautova, 2007, USNM 1116869 a flattened rods b clubs of polyps c spindles and flattened spindles of polyps and coenenchyme d cross.

FIGURE 12. Calcigorgia japonica Dautova, 2007, USNM 100816 a immature club of polyps b clubs of polyps c club of polyp d spindles and tripoids of polyps and coenenchyme e immature spindles of coenenchyme; c, e same scale.