Two additional dives were conducted in 1985 to collect live 

 animals for potential laboratory observation. Twenty sea pens 

 were set up in the Maine Department of Marine Resources wet lab. 

 Their behavior and survival was monitored. In the lab the 

 animals exhibited similar behavior to that observed in the field. 

 That is, they would extend and contract but on an apparently 

 random basis or, at least, an asynchronous rhythm with regard to 

 other individuals in the tank. The animals survived in the lab 

 for several months and were observed to produce and release 

 gametes in August and September. 



INTRODUCTION 



In 1983 a macrobenthic survey of the Gulf of Maine was 

 initiated, using the manned submersible Johnson Sea Link , as part 

 of a study of offshore lobster habitat and ecology. During the 

 course of this work it became quite apparent that sea pens, of 

 the genus Pennatula , were one of the more abundant species 

 occurring in, generally, soft bottom areas. A thorough search of 

 published literature on Pennatula resulted in a few accounts of 

 its occurrence and general anatomical descriptions (e.g., 

 Agassiz, 1883; Jungersen, 1904; Kukenthal, 1915; Verrill, 1922; 

 Deichmann, 1936; Bayer, 1956; Bayer et al . 1983). Detailed 

 distributional studies and ecological or experimental work do 

 not, to our knowledge, exist. It is, therefore, the purpose of 

 this paper to; 1) document the extent of Pennatula distribution 

 in the Gulf of Maine and 2) to report on some in situ 

 experimental work aimed at evaluating the sea pens contraction 

 and extension behavior. 



METHODS 



Starting in the early 1960s, the macrobenthic invertebrate 

 fauna in the Gulf of Maine was studied by the, now, National 

 Marine Fisheries Service as part of a quantitative and 

 qualitative survey of the east coast continental shelf of the 

 U.S.A. Quantitative samples were collected with the Smith 

 Mclntyre grab and the Campbell grab, as well as a 0.2m 2 Van Veen 

 grab. Qualitative sampling was done with a 1-meter naturalist 

 dredge, otter trawls and scallop dredges. Samples were fixed in 

 formalin and preserved in alcohol for later taxonomic evaluation. 

 Sea pens were sorted to the ordinal level, Pennatulacea, or in 

 some cases, to the genus Pennatula . Twenty samples, collected 

 between 1955 and 1974, contained 181 specimens which were 

 identified as the species, P. aculeata Danielssen. 



In 1983 a series of submersible and remotely operated 

 vehicle operations were initiated in the Gulf of Maine. Although 

 these operations were not all concerned with the study of sea 

 pens, the occurrence of these animals was often observed, thus 

 providing an extensive photographic and videographic record of 

 the presence or absence of sea pens throughout the Gulf. 



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