A-36 



Pennatula is a large purple plume-like sea pen 

 restricted to soft substrates. This sea pen was found 

 throughout the study area, but it appeared in high concentra- 

 tions only in the canyons. As with Anthomastus grandif torus 

 it was found at shallow depths in the northern canyons (600 to 

 1500 m) and deeper in the southern canyons (1500-2400 m) . 

 Again, a pattern of emergence is indicated but the geographic 

 coverage is too sparse to warrant a conclusive generalization. 

 Three species of Pennatula occur within the study area, P. 

 aauleataj P. gvandis and P. borealis . However, the taxonomic 

 differences between the three species are not gross enough to 

 be readily discerned in photographs. Hence, we identified the 

 pennatulids seen as Pennatula sp. It is quite likely that 

 most of these pennatulids are P. aauleata since this species 

 is common and has been collected throughout the study area. 



Aaanella arbusaula is a pale-pink finely branched bush- 

 like coral usually restricted to soft substrates. It is 

 known to occur all along the eastern sea coast at depths 

 ranging from 425 to 2875 meters. In the study area its depth 

 range was from 600 to 1300 meters in the north and 1500 to 

 2000 meters in the south. The growth habit of the northern 

 form was finer and denser than that of the southern form. 

 This difference may indicate that the southern form could be 

 a totally different species. However, the different growth 

 forms might also be the result of habitat differences, such 

 as current velocity and nutrient availability. Thus, it is 



