Eudendrium generale von Lendenfeld 1885

Eudendrium generale von Lendenfeld, 1885

(Fig. 3h)

Material examined. ANT XV/3: 48-4, one colony, c. 35 mm high; 48-27, one colony, c. 40 mm high, on sponge; 48-31, some stems, up to 20 mm high, on Tubularia sp.2 and O. terranovae, with female gonophores; 48-33, several stems, up to 10 mm high, on O. terranovae and Sc. nana; ANT XVII/3: 111-9, one colony, 20 m high, on T. longstaffi, with female gonophores; 111-18, some stems, up to 22 mm high, on Sc. nana; ANT XXI/2: PS65/251, one colony, 10 mm high; PS65/281, some stems, up to 40 mm high, on Sc. nana and Symplectoscyphus cumberlandicus (Jädherholm, 1905), with female gonophores.

Cnidome composed by microbasic euryteles in two size classes: large [range 13.0–16.0 x 5.5–6.5 µm, mean 14.3±1.2 x 6.1±0.3 µm (n=21)] and small [range 6.5–7.5 x 2.0–3.0 µm, mean 6.8±0.4 x 2.5±0.4 µm (n=17)].

Ecology and distribution. Previously reported at depths between 10 (Puce et al. 2002) and 702 m (Peña Cantero 2009); present material from 62 to 241 m. Australian-Antarctic species reported from East Antarctic (Peña Cantero 2009) and the Scotia Arc (Soto Àngel & Peña Cantero 2015); present finding constitutes the first evidence of E. generale from the Weddell Sea.