Turbinoliidae

Turbinoliidae sp.

(Figs. 4 I–J, tables 1−3)

Material examined. Galicia Bank: Stn. R 2, 614 m, six very small dead, broken and rolled specimens, mostly fragmentary.

Description. Specimens solitary, unattached, much worn, with wall almost even as a consequence of erosion. Largest specimen examined cylindrical (H= 0.6 cm). Base pointed. Calices circular, up to 0.18 cm in GCD and three cycles of septa, with almost all S1 and S2 merging with columella. S1 and S2 subequal and larger than S3, which are rudimentary. Septal faces with small granules. Columella reduced, formed by a single lamella. Corallum light brown.

Remarks. The sample suggests Sphenotrochus andrewianus Milne Edwards & Haime (Turbinoliidae Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848). However, in this species the calice and the corallum are laterally compressed and the wall has well-marked costae, whereas the samples at study are cylindrical and smooth. Young corallites of S. andrewianus use to be cylindrical for GCD<0.2 cm (Manuel 1981), but specimens from stn. R2 are longer than S. andrewianus.

According to Zibrowius (1980), three turbinolids occur in the north-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. From them, only Sphenotrochus andrewianus approaches the sample examined herein. Unfortunately, corallites are worn, rolled, and they cannot be identified with certitude. Besides, in the Bay of Biscay and nearby areas S. andrewianus is rarely cited, with a bathymetric range of 14−100 m depth. This depth is in accordance with the range given for this infralittoral to circalittoral coral (Zibrowius 1980; Manuel 1981) on its whole distribution area, and is far from depth of stn. R2 (614 m).