Actinostola sp.2

Fig. 3E.

MATERIAL. LV-82-7, 55.3688ºN 167.2662ºE – 55.3713ºN 167.2664ºE, depth 981– 885 m, one specimen collected (sample 2) and two specimens photographed; LV-82-8, 55.3814ºN 167.2617ºE, depth 469 m, one specimen photographed.

REMARKS. Large (up to 20 cm in diameter of the tentacular crown) orange sea anemone with wide undulating oral disc and numerous tentacles (up to 360 are visible in the photographs, but probably they are more numerous). The tentacles have strong white mesogloeal thickenings on the aboral side of their bases. Large tubercles may form longitudinal ridges in the upper part of the column. This species resembles above described Actinostola sp.1 (forms a clade with it in molecular tree), and Actinostola faeculenta; the common feature of these three species is greater number of tentacles (more than 300) in comparison with other similar species of Actinostola. The records of this species are limited to the southern slope of the Piip Volcano, four specimens were recorded in 2018 on the depths 469–981 m, and one of them was collected.