Tamarisca tamarisca (Linnaeus, 1758)

Picture: Fig. 1

Picture: Fig. 2

Picture: Fig. 3

SYNONYMY

Sertularia tamarisca Linnaeus, 1758

DESCRIPTION

Erect, monosiphonic colony, branching in one plane (Fig.1). Hydrothecae very large, in opposite pairs, tubular, 1 adnate, rim 3-cusped (Fig.2). Gonothecae unuasual and distinctive. Male gonotheca kite-shaped, flattened, with small aperture on the short neck. Female gonotheca bearing three flattened segments covering the aperture (Fig.3).

DISTRIBUTION IN SVALBARD

Hornsund

First record in Svalbard waters

WORLD DISTRIBUTION

Iceland, Greenland, Barents Sea, White Sea, western Atlantic

DEPTH

123 m

SUBSTRATE

no data

REPRODUCTION

fixed gonophores

absent in the Svalbard collection

REMARKS

Figs 1 and 3 - specimen from the collection of the Natural History Museum in London