Pogonophora from the Eastern Tropical Pacific, 
including Two New Species of Siboglinum 
Edward B. Cutler 1 
ABSTRACT: Two species of Pogonophora are described from the tropical Pacific 
from a depth of 1354 m. They belong to the genus Siboglinum and both are new 
species, S. albatrossianum and S', ecuadoricum. Empty tubes of another pogonophore 
are also described. This material represents the earliest known collection of 
pogonophores. 
The pogonophoran material described be- 
low is historically interesting as it was col- 
lected in 1888 by the U. S. Fish Commission 
steamer "Albatross.” This was 11 years before 
the "Siboga” Expedition, whose collections con- 
tained the first specimens of this group to be 
described (Caullery, 1914; Southward, 1961). 
The "Albatross” material went unnoticed in the 
U. S. National Museum until 1959, when Dr. 
F. M. Bayer of the University of Miami discov- 
ered it among some pennatulids. 
Dr. Fenner A. Chace was good enough to 
let me borrow it and with the help of Dr. Eve 
Southward I have been able to describe these 
new species. I am also indebted to Mr. Grant S. 
Lashbrook for the illustrations and to Dr. 
Paul J. Osborne for the use of his microscope. 
As this material has been preserved in alco- 
hol for 76 years, it is rather brittle and difficult 
to work with. Some distortion due to shrinkage 
is possible but it seems advisable to describe the 
specimens in spite of this. Other than Lamel- 
lisabella ivanovi (Kirkegaard, 1961) these are 
the only pogonophores to be described from this 
region of the Pacific Ocean. All the material 
came from "Albatross” Station 2793, and has 
been deposited at the U. S. National Museum 
in Washington, D. C. 
Collection Data 
locality : Off Cape San Francisco, Ecuador 
position: 01° 03' N, 80° 15' W 
1 Formerly at Lynchburg College, Lynchburg, Vir- 
ginia. Present address: Department of Zoology, Uni- 
versity of Rhode Island, Kingston, R. I. Manuscript 
received April 14, 1964. 
DEPTH: 741 fathoms (1354 m) 
BOTTOM DATA: green mud, 3.5°C 
DATE OF COLLECTION: 3 ill. 1888 
Siboglinum albatrossianum sp. nov. 
Figs. 1-6, 13 A-E 
HOLOTYPE: USNM 31824; PARATYPE: USNM 
31825 
DESCRIPTION: This species is represented by 
47 tubes, 24 containing parts of animals. As the 
significance of the material was not realized at 
the time of collection it was probably handled 
rather carelessly. Consequently, I was unable to 
find any one animal which was not damaged. 
The tubes have the characteristic ringed ap- 
pearance on the major portion. The anterior 
and posterior ends are thin, colorless, and wrin- 
kled (possibly from dehydration). This wrin- 
kled appearance is present In the colorless 
interspaces between the rings on many of the 
tubes. These interspaces are often pinched or 
indented and have even imposed a pseudo- 
metamerism on the body. The shade of brown 
in the rings becomes darker and the rings also 
become longer toward the middle of the tube. 
The diameter of the tube is 0.11-0.125 mm 
while the length of the rings is 0.014-0.026 
mm, always less than one-fourth the diameter. 
The rings are paired throughout with frequent 
connections between the pairs in the middle 
region. The longest tube In the collection is 
90 mm. 
One specimen measures 7.9 mm from the 
anterior end to the first girdle. The width of 
the trunk varies from 0.09 to 0.12 mm. The 
forepart ( promesosome ) is 1.35-1.46 mm long. 
422 
