Eudendrium album Nutting, 1898

Eudendrium album Nutting, 1898 View in CoL

Eudendrium album Nutting, 1898: 362–363 View in CoL , pl. 14 fig. 1.— Leloup, 1952: 124, fig. 61.— Marques et al., 2000: 77, figs 1–7.— Schuchert, 2008: 690, figs 6–7.— Schuchert, 2012: 316–317, fig. 278.

Material examined. BISSAU-0810, stn BS191, 10º18'25"– 10º19'20"N, 16º08'47"– 16º08'47"W, 24–25 m, 3-XI-2008: two colonies without gonophores, of which one growing on an unidentified hydroid.

BISSAU-0810, stn BS193, 10º21'13"– 10º21'51"N, 16º10'17"– 16º10'56"W, 20–21 m, 3-XI-2008: one colony without gonophores, growing on a bryozoan.

Remarks. The presence of two sizes of macrobasic euryteles, particularly the larger one, is a distinctive feature of E. album ( Schuchert 2012) . Our colonies represent the first record of E. album for Guinea-Bissau.

Biology. This species has been found growing on stones, algae and other hydroids ( Schuchert 2012). In the northern hemisphere, fertile material has been found between January and August ( Schuchert 2012).

In our material, some colonies were found growing on unidentified hydroids and a bryozoan.

Distribution. Schuchert (2008) pointed out that most identifications of E. album do not include information on the cnidome, and should therefore be considered only as tentative. Eudendrium album is a boreo-Atlantic species, known to occur from Norway to Galicia, in the Mediterranean Sea ( Schuchert 2008, 2012) and in Mauritania ( Gil & Ramil 2017a). Its bathymetric range extends from 0 to 1000 m ( Schuchert 2008).

Our material was collected at depths between 20–25 m.