Redescription and notes on the reproductive biology of the sea anemone Urticina fecunda (Verrill, 1899), comb. nov. (Cnidaria: Actiniaria: Actiniidae)

• Published in: Zootaxa
• Main Authors: LARSON, PAUL G., HAMEL, JEAN-FRANÇOIS, MERCIER, ANNIE
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Mangolia Press 2012
• Subjects: Coelenterata; Brooding; Epiactis; Epigonactis; Canada; Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://www.mapress.com/j/zt/article/view/zootaxa.3523.1.8; https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3523.1.8

The externally brooding sea anemone Epiactis fecunda (Verrill, 1899) is redescribed as Urticina fecunda, comb. nov., onthe basis of preserved type material and anatomical and behavioural observations of recently collected animals. The sea-sonal timing of reproduction and aspects of the settlement and development of brooded offspring are reported. Preciselocality data extend the bathymetric range to waters as shallow as 10 m, and the geographical range east to the AvalonPeninsula (Newfoundland, Canada). We differentiate it from other known northern, externally brooding species of seaanemone. Morphological characters, including verrucae, decamerous mesenterial arrangement, and non-overlapping sizesof basitrichs in tentacles and actinopharynx, agree with a generic diagnosis of Urticina Ehrenberg, 1834 rather than Epiactis Verrill, 1869.