Euherdmania fasciculata Monniot F. 1983

Euherdmania fasciculata Monniot F. 1983

Figure 3.

Stations. SR4; SR8; SR11; SR23; SD8; SS1; SS3; SS10; SS11; SS12; SC12; SC13; SD12.

The colonies are abundant at 4–6m depth. They make bushes of long narrow and soft lobes united at their base (Fig. 3 A), each lobe containing a single zooid. All characters correspond to the original description of Caribbean specimens. The branchial sac (Fig. 3 B) has from 12 to18 rows of stigmata in zooids of the same colony. The stomach is long and cylindrical with 10 deep folds (Fig. 3 D). Numerous testis lobes are distributed along the whole length of the post-abdomen. The ovary lies among the testis lobes at some distance from the gut. The larvae 0.9mm long (Fig. 3 C) are incubated inside the oesophagus area. They have 2 adhesive papillae and lack any lateral ectodermal vesicle.

Paiva et al (2015) described a colony from the northeastern Brazil which obviously belongs to E. fasciculata. The genus Euherdmania is not a common genus in western Atlantic with only 3 other species: E. areolata Millar 1978 from the Guyana shelf also has thin ramified lobes but is totally coated with sand and differs also by more rows of stigmata and an areolated stomach wall. E. morgani Millar & Goodbody 1974 from Jamaica has colonies in large capitate lobes each containing numerous embedded zooids. E. vitrea Millar 1961 from Brazil has colonies in thick cushions each with numerous zooids.