B-17 



grey, brown or black. The species was originally reported from 

 off the coast of Europe. P.borealie was collected from off Nova 

 Scotia and New England in 200-300 fm. 



It is impossible to distinguish between this species and 

 P. gvandis on the basis of photographs. However, all specimens 

 recovered during the field study were identified as P. gvandis. 

 Thus, all Paramurioea seen in the photographs were recorded as 

 grandis. 



Primnoa reseda (Pallas) 



Govgonia veeeda^ Pallas, 1766 



Primnoa resedaeformie^ Broch, 1912:32 

 Primnoa reseda, Verrill, 1864:37; 1922:14 

 Primnoa resedaeformis, Deichmann, 1936:157 



This species is the only primoid gorgonian found off the 



northeast U. S. coast. It forms large, densely and dichotomously 



branched colonies reaching a height of 1 m or more. The branches 



are crowded together and angled upward. Their axis is fibrous, 



solid and heavily impregnated with calcium carbonate. The basal 



holdfast used for attaching the colonies to hard substrates, can 



be almost entirely calcified. The polyps are up to 5 mm tall, 



are densely crowded around all sides of the branches and are 



fixed in a semi-extended position (curved up or down along the 



axis in preserved material) . The polyps and coenenchymal surface 



have a scale-like appearance and this is due to presence of very 



large (1 mm or more in size) irregularly shaped spicular plates. 



At the top of each polyp and corresponding to the bases of the 



tentacles there are eight large triangular plates which fold over 



