Symplectoscyphus glacialis

Symplectoscyphus glacialis (Jäderholm, 1904)

(Fig. 11f, 12e)

Material examined. ANT XV/3: 48-27, few stems, up to 15 mm high; 48-44, few stems, up to 10 mm high, on polychaete tube; 48-50, some stems, up to 50 mm high, on St. frigida; 48-63, one colony, c. 30 mm high; 48-70, few stems, up to 6 mm high, on St. polarsterni; 48-77, several stems, up to 20 mm high, on octocoral and H. jaederholmi; 48-82, several stems, up to 30 mm high, on St. polarsterni; 48-97, few stems, up to 8 mm high, on St. polarsterni; 48-154, several stems, up to 17 mm high, on St. pachyclada and St. polarsterni; 48-189, some stems, up to 13 mm high, on St. frigida; 48-194, few stems, up to 25 mm high, on Sc. nana; 48-197, few stems, up to 3 mm high, on A. frigida; 48-220, some stems, up to 20 mm high, on Sc. nana and St. glomulosa; 48-222, few stems, up to 9 mm high, on Sc. nana; ANT XXI/2: PS65/39, some stems, up to 30 mm high, on St. glomulosa, S. lobata and Sy. exochus, with gonothecae; PS65/121, few stems, up to 20 mm high, on S. lobata; PS65/174, some stems, up to 17 mm high, on A. elongatus, O. erratum and Sy. weddelli; PS65/175, few stems, up to 2 mm high, on B. subrufa; PS65/237, several stems, up to 65 mm high; PS65/248, some stems, up to 40 mm high, on dead octocoral and H. incertus; PS65/253, few stems, up to 4 mm high, on St. polarsterni; PS65/265, some stems, up to 35 mm high, on St. polarsterni and St. vanhoeffeni; PS65/274, mass of stems, c. 40 mm high, with gonothecae, and several stems, up to 20 mm high, on St. frigida, St. nonscripta and St. polarsterni; PS65/276, few stems, up to 8 mm high, on S. lobata and Sy. vanhoeffeni; PS65/278, mass of stems, c. 20 mm high, and few stems, up to 5 mm high, on A. elongatus and H. secundum; PS65/279, some stems, up to 13 mm high, on B. subrufa; PS65/280, mass of stems, c. 30 mm high, on C. microrhiza, with developing gonothecae; PS65/292, some stems, c. 15 mm high; PS65/336, some stems, c. 20 mm high, on bryozoan.

Remarks. Infertile material is tentatively assigned to Sy. glacialis because of the difficulty in separating it from Sy. exochus in the absence of gonothecae (see Peña Cantero 2017).

Ecology and distribution. Previously collected from 5 (Naumov & Stepanjants 1972, as Sertularella glacialis) to 1157 m (Peña Cantero 2014a); material examined collected between 120 and 659 m. Pan-Antarctic distribution (Soto Àngel & Peña Cantero 2015).