Caryophyllia abyssorum Duncan 1873

Caryophyllia abyssorum Duncan, 1873

(Figs. 2 C–E, tables 1–3)

Caryophyllia abyssorum Duncan, 1873: 315, pl. 40, figs. 1−4.—Zibrowius 1980: 61, pl. 23, figs. A–L.—Monteiro Marques & Andrade 1981: 88.—Zibrowius 1985: 316, tab. 2.—Ramil Blanco & Fernández Pulpeiro 1990: 26.—Álvarez Claudio 1993: 417.—Álvarez Claudio 1994a: 264.—Álvarez Claudio 1994c: 463.—Cairns & Chapman 2001: 34 (tab. 1).— Reveillaud et al. 2008: 322 (tab. 1), 325 (fig. 4).—Altuna 2010: 21.—Louzao et al. 2010: S1.

Material examined. Le Danois Bank, 2008: Stn. S 3V, 955 m, two dead specimens, eroded, one of them with its proximal half missing.

Description. Corallum stout (H= 2.86 cm), curved, pedicellate (PD= 1.06 cm) and widening distally (PD: GCD= 0.37). Wall costate only distally. Costae prominent, with a scarce and subtle granulation (eroded specimen); C1–C3 ridged, C4 of similar width but flat. Calices circular (CD= 1.0− 1.22 cm), with 40 septa arranged pentamerally according to the formula S1−2>S3>S4, and S3 paliferous (10P3); S1 and S2 equally exsert, with S3 and S4 progressively less exsert; S1−S2 of same length, slightly longer than S3, and these than S4. Inner edge of S3 somewhat thickened, and of S1, S2 and S4 thinner and wedged. Septal faces with pointed conical granules. Pali neat, as vertical rods encircling the columella, granulated. Fossa shallow, containing a columella formed by a few twisted rods clearly discernible from pali, and at a lower level. Corallum greyish.

Remarks. Specimens are stout and heavy, with the corallum being strongly curved as is usual in the species (Zibrowius 1974, 1980).

The geographic distribution was traced by Zibrowius (1980). It is a bathyal coral that in the Bay of Biscay has been recorded from the southern and northern sectors. It was previously known from the Avilés Canyon system (Álvarez Claudio 1994c; Louzao et al. 2010) but was unknown from Le Danois Bank.