Alcyonium paessleri

Description. Big colony, 29 cm in height. Stalk short and thick, 12 cm in diameter. Colony multilobate with secondary lobes. Polyps often form small hemispherical or rounded protuberances on the surface of the polyparium when retracted. Anthocodiae with crown and points of slender spinous spindles, some projections and tubercles are also present (0.12 – 0.29 mm). Coenenchyme with rods and spindles with spinous process (0.12 – 0.24 mm)

Diagnosis. See Verseveldt 1967: 7 – 10.

Distribution (Fig. 1). Estuary of Rio de la Plata (38 º 06 ’ S, 55 º 13 ’ W; 440 – 480 m) (Castro 1990); Corrientes Cape (38 º 58 ’ S, 55 º 17 ’ W; 595 – 642 m), Ninfas Point (44 º 19 ’ S, 59 º 52 ’ W; 183 – 366 m), Tres Puntas Cape (47 º 09 ’ S, 60 º 38 ’ W; 424 – 428 m), Straits of Magellan (150 m) (Verseveldt 1967); Smyth Canal (Chile) (May 1899); Seymour Island (150 m) (Antarctic Peninsula) (Molander 1929); Franklin Island (76 º 10´S, 168 º 30´E, 79 m) (Ross Sea) (Hickson 1902); off Mt. Erebus (Ross Sea) (328 m), Ross Sea (42 m – 407 m) (Hickson 1907). New record: South Georgia Islands.

Material examined. ARGENTINA, South Georgia Islands, 53 º 35´S, 38 º 07´W, March 1995, 100 – 200 m, Vessel “ Dr. Holmberg ”, collector Nahabedian, (CA DCM 1).