Biological Results of the Chatham Islands 1954 Expedition

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Biological Results of the Chatham Islands 1954 Expedition ISSN 2538-1016; 29 NEW ZEALAND DEPARTMENT OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH BULLETIN 139 (6) Biological Results of The Chatham Islands 1954 Expedition PART 6 Scleractinia BY DONALD F. SQUIRES New Zealand Oceanographic Institute Memoir No. 29 1964 This publication is the sixth part of the Department of Scientificand Industrial Research Bulletin 139, which records the Biological Results of the Chatham Islands 1954 Expedition. Parts already published are: Part 1. Crustacea, by R. K. Dell, N. S. Jones, and J. C. Yaldwyn. Part 2. Archibenthal and Littoral Echinoderms, by H. Barraclough Fell. Part 3. Polychaeta Errantia, by G. A. Knox. Part 4. Marine Mollusca, by R. K. Dell; Sipunculoidea, by S. J. Edmonds. Part 5. Porifera: Demospongiae, by Patricia R. Bergquist; Porifera: Keratosa, by Patricia R. Bergquist; Crustacea Isopoda: Bopyridae, by R. B. Pike; Crustacea Isopoda: Serolidae, by D. E. Hurley; Hydroida, by Patricia M. Ralph. Additional parts are in preparation. A "General Account" of the Expedition was published as N.Z. Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Bulletin No. 122 (1957). BIOLOGICAL RESULTS OF THE CHATHAM ISLANDS 1954 EXPEDITION PART 6-SCLERACTINIA This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ Photograph: G. A. Knox. The Sero/is bromleyana - Spatangus multispinus community on the sorting screen. Aberrant growth form of Flabellum knoxi is in the lower left(see also plate 1, figs. 4-6). The abundant tubes are those of Hya!inoecia tubicola, the large starfish is Zoroaster spinu!osus, the echinoids Parameretia multituberculata. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ NEW ZEALAND DEPARTMENT OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH BULLETIN 139 (6) Biological Results of The Chatham Islands 1954 Expedition PART 6 Scleractinia BY DONALD F. SQUIRES New Zealand Oceanographic Institute Memoir No. 29 Price 5s. 1964 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ This publication should be referred to as: NZ. Dep. sci. industr. Res. Bull. 139 (6) R. E. OWEN, GOVERNJ\1£NT PRINTER, WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND-1964 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ FOREWORD The Chatham Islands 1954 Expedition was organi�c:d and led by Prof. G. A. Knox of the Zoology Department of Canterbury University. The expedition was planned to explore the distribution of benthic and pelagic animals between the New Zealand coast and the Chatham Islands over the Chatham Rise, and to investigate the faunal affinitiesof the Chathams group, which lies in the Sub-tropical Convergence zone. A substantial grant towards the cost of the expedition was made by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research on the recommendation of the N.Z. Oceanographic Committee: further financial support was given by Canterbury University, Canterbury Museum, Dominion Museum and Canterbury and South­ land Branches of the Royal Society of New Zealand. The expedition was carried out from the m.v. Alert under the command of her owner and master, Mr A. J. Black. The scientific staff was drawn from the following organisations: Canterbury Museum (R. R. Forster); Canterbury University (G. A. Knox, E. W. Dawson, J. R. MacIntyre); Dominion Museum (R. K. Dell, J. M. Moreland); N.Z. Oceanographic Institute (D. M. Garner); Otago University (D. Marshall); Portobello Marine Biological Station (E. J. Batham); Victoria University of Wellington (J. C. Yaldwyn). Prof. G. A. Knox has been responsible for organisation of the sorting and allocation of material. Type material from the expedition is deposited at Canterbury Museum. Preliminary editing of the manuscript has been carried out by Mrs P. M. Cullen. Miss G. L. Smith (Information Service, D.S.l.R.) has been responsible for final editing. Further results of the expedition will be published in this series as the examina­ tions of other animal groups are completed. J. W. BRODIE, Director, N.Z. Oceanographic Institute. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ CONTENTS Page Abstract 9 Introduction 9 List of Species 11 Systematic Account 11 Caryophyllia profunda Moseley 11 Goniocorella dumosa (Alcock) 11 F/abellum knoxi Ralph and Squires 11 Living Position of Flabe/lum 12 General Considerations 12 Definition of Terms .. 14 Determination of Living Position 14 Formation of the Recurved Corallum 18 Recurvature and Reflexure in the Corallum of Flabellum knoxi 19 Recurvature and Reflexure among Fossil Flabe/lwn 20 Summary 21 References 21 Plates 1-4 22-29 Index 31 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ The Scleractinia Collected by the Chatham Islands 1954 Expedition DONALD F. SQUIRES Division of Marine Invertebrates, Smithsonian Institution, Washington 25, D. C. Abstract Three previously described species of stony corals were collected by the Chatham Islands 1954 Expedition. The occurrences of these are given. Growth forms of Flabellum knoxi are described in particular relation to the living position of this coral. Living position of other Flabellum is discussed and evidence contributing towards identification of the living position is presented. Adaptive growth resulting from living positions is considered as reflected in the form of the corallum. Developmental patterns of abnormal coralla are described in relation to the external causal stimuli. INTRODUCTION Three species of corals were collected by the living in waters less than 100 fathoms deep were Chatham Islands 1954 Expedition, but only one sampled with some frequency, but corals were was taken in large numbers of specimens. The absent. If only dredgings in water greater than coral fauna of both the Chatham Islands and New 100 fathoms in depth are considered corals were Zealand are at present inadequately known and present in nearly 24 per cent of the trials, a much the comparison of the coral faunas of these two more substantial figure. Available hydrological areas is not enlightening. Of the three species data (Garner, 1957; Burling, 1961) do not immedi­ collected, one, Caryophy!lia profunda, is typical of ately reveal an explanation for this distribution;· the Southern Ocean faunas; a second, Goniocorella Along the Chatham Rise there is a marked change dumosa, is distributed throughout the western in thermal gradient at about 100 fathoms. If this Indo-Pacific from Japan to New Zealand; and the change marks the presence of subantarctic waters last, Flabellum knoxi, the best represented species at this depth there may be cause forthe absence of in the Chatham Islands collections, is known only many of the more temperate water corals of north­ from the Chatham Rise. ern New Zealand. Corals were taken at only five stations, or 8 per Only eight of the occupied stations were over cent of the 60 stations occupied by the Chatham mud substrates. From four of these F. knoxi was Islands 1954 Expedition. If shore collections are collected. Two of the remaining four stations were eliminated from consideration, random sampling from considerably shallower depths (120-155 by dredging indicates the presence of coral in only as opposed to 220-290 fathoms), and a third is 11 per cent of the stations, suggesting a general recorded as a muddy sand rather than a true mud. scarcity of coral in the vicinity of the Chatham The occurrence of F. knoxi on the Chatham Rise Islands. Fig. 1 shows that the number of collections may well be governed by the distribution of mud falls off' rapidly with increasing depth. Faunas substrates. 9 Inset This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ ·- _._-- · 9 -- -......-. -·-· 80 �- -·- .......... ......,, 70 -·-- . I ,,..... p 60 ...... e / I r ,_, C 50 • e I I n 40 ' t I 30I I I 20 , I I I 10, I I I 0 I . - - . • . - . 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250. 275. 300. 325 350 Depth In Fathoms FIG. 1: Cumulative frequency curve of collecting stations of the Chatham Jslands 1954 Expedition as a function of depth. The 50 and 75 percentiles are indicated. Hurley (1961) has suggested the term Sero/is Fusitron landonensis, Fax alertae, and Coluzea bromleyana - Spatangus multispinus community for mariae. F!abellum knoxi is another constituent of the abyssal benthic association found in many this fauna (frontispiece), being found in four of the samples from the Chatham Islands - New Zealand eight stations sampling the association. Although area. This community, sampled at stations 6, 7, a noteworthy member of the community on th� 41, 51, 52, 53, 58, and 59 of the Chatham Islands Chatham Rise, F. knoxi is not present in the known 1954 Expedition, also contains Ophiuroglypha irrotata (an echinoid), Campylonotus rathburnae occurrence of the Sero/is bromleyana - Spatangus (a decapod), Hyalinoecia tubicola (a polychaete), multispinus community in New Zealand waters, and the Mollusca Nassarius ephami/us, Micantapex for it has not been recorded and could scarcely parengonius, Nei!o australis, Falsi!unatia powel!i, have been overlooked. 10 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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