Annals of the South African MuseumAnnale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum . ed to distal terminus of colony. Polyps large, conspicuous, upto 6 mm in length and usually numbering <12 per colony. Calyces capable of total retraction into polyparium. Polyps heavily impregnatedwith finely tuberculated sclerites. Anthocodiae with crown and points ofslender spindles or needles <0,30 mm long. Shorter rod-like sclerites are alsopresent. These are often curved with ends drawn out to needle-like of polyparium and stalk are capstans and some double stars, usually<0,11
Annals of the South African MuseumAnnale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum . ed to distal terminus of colony. Polyps large, conspicuous, upto 6 mm in length and usually numbering <12 per colony. Calyces capable of total retraction into polyparium. Polyps heavily impregnatedwith finely tuberculated sclerites. Anthocodiae with crown and points ofslender spindles or needles <0,30 mm long. Shorter rod-like sclerites are alsopresent. These are often curved with ends drawn out to needle-like of polyparium and stalk are capstans and some double stars, usually<0,11 mm long. Gastric cavity walls impregnated with stout capstan-likespindles and also slender spindles approximately 0,10 mm in length. Stalk whiteor rose, polyps rose to deep red; colour due to permanent pigmentation ofsclerites. Distribution Apparently endemic to southern Africa—Agulhas Bank, Transkei andsouthern Natal, depth 126-360 m (Williams in press a). Type locality is theregion of the Agulhas Bank, south-east of Cape Agulhas. SOFT CORALS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA 275. Fig. 11. Alcyonium elegans (Kiikenthal, 1902). A. Colony growing on a stone; totalheight of figure 15,5 mm. B. Polyp-bearing distal region of a colony cutlongitudinally to reveal internal structure; total height of figure = 6,2 Sclerites from crown and points of anthocodia. D. Stalk sclerites. C-D. Scalebar = 0,1 mm. Abbreviations: a—anthocodia, c—crown, g—gonad, gc—gastriccavity, ic—interior coenenchyme, mf—mesenterial filament, p—points, ra—retracted anthocodia, sc—surface coenenchyme. 276 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM
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Keywords: ., bookauthorsouthafr, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookyear1898
