Abstract:
Hy study of Anthomastus ritterihas led to on establishment of its
distribution in Honterey Bag, a description of its feeding behavior.
responses and endogenous cycles of anthocodia, and a diet analusis, when
densities were calculated according to geographical location, depth, and
habitat type, it was found that the highest concentrations of Anthomastus
ritterroccur at the Canyon Wall Heander site, at a depth of about 350m.
and on exposed rock faces. Khite individuals are more common towards
the south while pink and red ones are the only ones seen at the
northernmost locations. Two distinct feeding behaviors are used bu the
species depending on whether it is ingesting large or small particles.
Anthocodia retract both in response to mechanical stimuli and in an
endogenous cyclical pattern of 27 hours length. Fecal analysis suggests
that they are ingesting mainly sand particles and detritus.
Introduction:
Anthomastus ritteriis a soft coral found along the cangon wall of
Honterey Bag. It is a polymorphic colonial organism having a variable
number of two polyp types. Autozooids are the large feeding polups while
the siphonozooids appear as ting bumps which cover the surface of the
lobe and pump water through the colong (Abbott, 1987). Their
gastrovascular cavities extend through a common fleshg lobe down to the
base of a stalk. Within the lobe is a solenial network which interconnects
the gastrovascular tubes of each polup providing the colong with a common
nutrient pool. The portion of the autozooid which projects from the lobe
of the colong is called the anthocodia (Hyman, 1940). The anthocodia are
copable of retracting completely into the fleshy lobe.
Since Anthamsstus ritteriwas described in 1909 bq Dr. Charles C.
Nutting (1909), very little work has been published about this alcyonarian
(Abbott, 1987). Since so little is known about this species 1 focused mu
research on a basic understanding of its biologg. I established a pattern
for its distribution in Honterey Bag, described two distinct feeding
behaviors, described patterns of anthocodia retraction, and made
preliminary observations of its natural diet through a fecal analysis of
freshly collected individuols. These findings shed some light on how this
organism fits into the ecology of the Honterey Bay cangon wall.
Haterials and Hehtods:
Distribution in Honterey Bag
Tused video footage shot at points along the Honterey submarine
cangon wall to establish distributional patterns for Anthomastus ritteri
The footage was shot from a Sony Betacam DXC 3000 camera mounted on a
submersible Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) operated by the Honterey Bag
Aquorium Reseorch Institute (MBARI). In 1990, MBARI conducted cangon
wall dives at five locations, and these sites were surveged for
Anthamastus ritteridensities. Densities were established according to
the number of Anthomastusseen per unit time. The cangon wall locations
included the Point Joe, C4-C5, Cangon Wall Meander, North Wall, and Soquel
Cangon sites shown in Figure 1.
The video footage was sampled by counting the number of
Anthomastusseen during one-minute segments spaced over the tapes at
five-minute intervals. The depth, color, and habitat type were recorded
for each video segment surveged. The three different habitat types
recorded were exposed rock face, sediment cover, and the rocky slope
habitats. Densities for a particular geographic location ,depth range, and
habitat were established by dividing the total Anthomastusseen by
the total time surveged at that location, depth range, or habitat tupe
A total of eleven dives were surveged. They included two dives at
Point Joe on April 19,1989 and January 10, 1990; four dives at C4-C5 on
Harch 26, Hay 1, Hay 7, and Hay 14, 1990; one dive at Cangon Wall Heander
on February 28, 1990; three dives at North Wall on January 17, January 29.
and February 5, 1990; and one dive at Soquel Cangon on Harch 19, 1990.
Feeding Behavior
Anthonastus individuals were collected with the MBARI ROV and kept
at 6°C in tanks at the Honterey Bag Aquarium. Feeding behavior was
studied using live Artemignauplii and dead krill. Live kelp mucids,
Aconthomysis insculple, and brine shrimp, Artemig, were also tried, but
Anthonestusspecimens were unable to capture and ingest these larger,
live animals. Nauplii were squirted gently near the Antbomostus
tentacles using a turkey baster. Care was taken not to disturb the polups
with too forceful a squirt from the turkey baster while at the same time
ensuring the nauplii would run into the polyp tentacles. The dead krill was
placed on a tentacle using forceps. The esophagus of the Anthamestusis
clearly visible as a red tube running through the transparent outer tissue
layers along the length of the anthocodia. The movement of krill down the
esophagus can be observed because the black eges of krill are visible
through the red tissue layer lining the esophagus.
Anthocodia Retraction
The retraction of anthocodia was observed using the individuals
collected by the MBARI ROV and stored at the Hontereg Bay Aquarium. A
plastic probe was used for stimulation by touching them on their stalk and
polups. Their endogenous cyclical retractions were recorded with a Song
VHS video camera on a tripod and attached it to a VeR with a time
lopse function ond one frome was exposed every 1.2 seconds. The activitu
of an undisturbed specimen was recorded over the course of 3 daus and it
went through 2 cycles of exponsion and retraction.
Fecal Pellet Analysis
In order to study the natural diet of Antbomastus ritteri,1 analized
fecal pellets from freshly collected individuals. The Anthamastus
specimens were collected with the HBARI ROV at the northern extreme of
the C4-C5 site. One individual from a sediment cover habitat was
collected on Hay 14 and eight others from an exposed rock habitat were
collected on Hay 23, 1990. The specimens were transported to the
Honterey Bay Aquarium where they were put into clean tanks. Fecal
pellets were collected over the course of the two days following
collection. A total of 19 pellets were collected from the 8 individuals
coming from the exposed rock habitat, and 8 were collected from the one
Anthomostus found on sediment cover. The pellets were transferred with
forceps to vials containing 808 ethanol.
The fecal pellets were dissected with needles and the fragments
mounted on glass slides for examination under a compound microscope.
Eoch slide contained one pellet with a total volume of about 0.03 cme.
systematically worked my way across each slide in lines so as to cover all
parts of the sample. I estimated the relative volumes of the particle
tupes I saw. The estimate was made using an arbitrary standard unit of
volume which was the average volume of the sand grains found in the
pellets, or about 8.0 x10° cm°. Sand and other material in the pellets
vere counted according to this unit.
Results.
Distribution
The distribution of Anthomastus ritterrin Honterey Bay was analuzed
relative to three porometers. I compored the relative densities occording
to geographical location in the bay, according to depth, and according to
habitat type.
Figure 2 illustrotes how Anthanastusure distributed at the five sites
surveged in Honterey Bag. The color morphs of Anthomastus were divided
into two groups: white ones and ones which were colored pink or red.
Anthomestus ritteriexists in shodes from white to pink to red, and anu
individual which was even slightlg pink was counted in the red and pink
category. Anthonsstusreaches its highest density at the Cangon Wall
Heander site where the overall density approached 4.0 Antbamastusper
minute. Also shown in Figure 2 is the fact that white individuals were not
observed at the two northernmost sites while over half of those seen at
the southernmost site were white.
Figure 3 shows the results 1 obtained when 1 studied the distribution
of Anthonastus ritteriby depth. The highest concentration of the species
occurs at about 350m, the concentration drops off rapidly at shallower and
deeper locations.
Densities according to habitat tupe are summarized in Figure 4. The
habitat tupe with the highest density of Antbamastus ritteriwas the
exposed rock face. 2.7 individuals were seen per minute of ROV time on
this tupe of habitat. The sediment cover habitat had the next highest
density with 0.93 individuals per minute, and the rocky slope habitat was
lowest with 0.71 Anthomastusper minute.
Feeding Behavior
Anthansstus ritterihas two distinct feeding patterns, one for larger
prey items and the other for smaller particles. In both patterns,
autozooids are sessile predators, waiting for particles to come into
contact with outstreched tentacles. When all the anthocodia are fullu
extended, the tentacles of the polyps stretch out in a plane around the oral
disc, and combine to form a web-like network arranged in a sphere around
the fleshy body of the colong. The tentacles of adjacent polyps do not
overlap but come into close proximity at their tips. When a food particle
touches a part of this network, the feeding behavior is intiated. The
nematocysts on the tentacles are of the atrichous isorhiza tupe which
contain no toxins but function by causing the food particle to stick to the
tentacle (Huscatine and Lenhoff, 1974). The tentacle which captures the
food is termed the primary tentacle". From this point, the behavior can
follow one of two basic routes.
The first pattern is observed when the polup ingests dead krill of
about 1.0 to 1.5 centimeters in length. This was the larger food object for
laboratory observations. The primary tentacle with the food item attached
curls in bringing the particle to the oral disc. It works independently
bringing the item to the oral disc with no assistance from the other
tentacles of the polyp. Once the primary tentacle has curled into the
middle, the other tentacles bend up at their bases to form a fence of
tentacles around the oral disc. The tentacles squeeze together over the
food particle to form a cage completely around the piece of food. The
polup then begins to bend over in the direction of the pull of gravity The
polup swells to about 1.6 times its normal diameter and the esophagus is
seen to distend initially at its distal end to about 2.5 times its normal
diameter. This dilation of the esophagus near the oral disc allows the
primary tentacle to insert the food particle into the mouth. Large food
particles have been observed entering through the mouth into the
esophagus with no apparent aid from any tentacles once the primary
tentacle has inserted at least a tip or an edge of the particle into the
mouth. In some cases, hovever, the primary tentacle and occassionallu
one or more of the other tentacles bends into the mouth and enters into the
esophagus with the piece of food. The distension of the esophagus works
its way down toward the base of the anthocodia until the entire visible
esophagus is dilated. It takes about 13 minutes from the time a piece of
krill makes contact with the tentacle for it to be ingested into the
esophagus and be moved down to the base of the anthocodia. Shortly after
the krill reaches the base of the anthocodia, the esophaqus starts to
constrict at its distal end back to normal size. This begins a slow,
peristaltic motion as the constriction of the esophagus works its wag to
the base of the anthocodia. Starting with the first signs of contraction
near the oral disc it takes between 15 and 35 minutes for the esophagus to
constrict back to its normal size completely down to the base of the
anthocodia. The piece of krill is visible at the base of the anthocodia until
the constricting esophagus squeezes it down deeper into the polyp.
The second tupe of feeding behavior is observed when an Anthomastus
is feeding on nauplii which are on the order of 0.3 millimeters in length.
When one or more nauplii become stuck to a tentacle, that tentacle curls in
to the oral disc and deposits the food porticles on the mouth. The tentacle
slowly curls back to its normal position. The time for the tentacle to curl
into the oral disc is about 1.5 seconds, but it takes about 4 minutes for it
to swing back out to its normal position along the plane of the oral disc.
There is no swelling or bending of the polyp, and there is no visible
distension of the esophagus.
The largest live animals Anthomastushas been observed to ingest are
Artenionauplii. When live kelp mycids, Aconthonsis insculpta of about
1.0 cm length were put into a tank containing Anthomastus ritteritheu
were observed coming into contact with the tentacles but were easily able
to break free of the sticky tentacle before being drawn to the oral disc. On
an HBARI video tape token at the Congon Wall Heonder site on February
28, 1990, the golden-eye mycid was seen to come into contact with a
tentacle only to immediately break itself free of its sticky surface. Adult
brine shrimp, Artemig ore much wenker swimmers than the mycids, and
when one comes into contact with a tentacle, the tentacle is able to
maintain its hold and bring it to the oral disc and insert part of it into the
mouth. Once the esophogus becomes distended, however, the brine shrimp
is able to swim free of the polyp. Once the distension of the esophagus is
intiated by the brine shrimp being in the mouth, it continues down to the
base of the anthocodia and is followed by the peristaltic constriction
down the length of the anthocodia. The entire motion of the esophagus
occurs despite the fact that no food particle is being moved down towards
the lobe of the colong.
Anthocodia Retraction
Another interesting behavior of Anthomastus ritterris its ability to
retract its anthocodia into the colong's common fleshy lobe. This behavior
occurs both as a response to mechanical disturbances of the colony and as
a cyclical event from day to dag. A particularly sensitive area for
mechanical disturbance is the stalk of the colong. When the stalk is
disturbed by touch, the anthocodia of the entire colong begin the process
of retraction by becoming flacid and bending of the tentacles in towards
the oral disc and away from the lobe. This process can be reversible with
the tentacles bending back down and becoming capable of feedinq, but with
strunger stimulation the anthocodia will be completely retracted. When
the retraction occurs in response to mechaincal disturbance, all the
anthocodia respond at the same time immediately after the disturbance.
If an individual anthocodia is disturbed, the reaction is local
involving only that polyp and more likely to be reversible. During the
process of retraction, water is expelled from the anthocodia causing them
to shrink. The anthocodia continue to shrink down until they are entirelu
inside the lobe with only the tentocles sticking out. The tentacles are
then brought inside the lobe with their tips enterring last and the surface
of the lobe tightens around the space occupied by the retracted polup
leaving only a pit in the surface of the lobe.
The cyclical retraction of polyps was observed in one individual using
time lapse photography over the course of three days. Two cycles were
observed taking 27 hours each storting with the anthocodia retracted and
the lobe pulled down next to the substrate just before the colong begins to
come out. The first sign of the colony preparinq to come out is the
expansion and extension of the stalk which lifts the lobe away from the
substrate. This takes aproximately 36 minutes. The first anthocodia
begins coming out at about 30 minutes, just prior to the stalk being
completely extended. The anthocodia do not all come out at the same time,
and there is no obvious order which they follow. When theg come out, the
tentacles of the polups are buried in their mouths and they slide out and
curl away from the oral disc as the polyp expands. By the time 1 hour and
40 minutes have passed, the anthocodia are completely extended and in
their feeding posture. They remain fully extended until a total of 15 hours
have passed from the beginning of the cycle. At this point the colong
droops toword the substrote ond its onthocodia retract partiallu. After
about 36 minutes of this partially retracted state, the anthocodia come
back out and the colong becomes erect once again. The colony recovers
fully from this partial retraction by 16 hours and 48 minutes into the
cycle. 18 hours and 54 minutes into the cycle, the colong begins a
complete retraction. The colong droops over again. When the anthocodia
are preparing to retract, the tentacles of all the polups curl away from the
oral disc. The anthocodia become flacid and begin to shrink. They continue
to shrink until only the tentacles are outside the lobe. Unlike the
retroction caused by mechanical stimulus, the anthocodia do not retract in
synchrong and there is no obvious pattern to the order of retractions. The
tentacles then curl into the lobe and the surface of the lobe squeezes shut
over the top of them 21 hours into the cycle. The stalk begins to shorten
at 21 hours and 54 minutes and pulls the lobe up next to the substrate over
the next hour. When up against the substrate, the lobe shrinks to about
two-thirds its normal size. The colony remains clomped up next to the
rock with anthocodia retracted for the remaining 5 hours and 6 minutes of
the cycle. These time values represent the average time over the two
observed cycles, but there was little variation between cycles. The
largest variation occurred in the timing of the portial retraction in the
middle of the cycle. In one cycle the partial retraction began at 13 hours
and 12 minutes and lasted 2 hours and 18 minutes, and that of the other
cycle started at 16 hours and 48 minutes and lasted 1 hour and 18 minutes.
The timing of the other events of the cycle were within 36 minutes of
each other between the two cycles.
Fecal Pellet Analysis
The composition, by volume, of the fecal pellets of the 8 Anthomastus
collected from on exposed rock foce habitat is summorized in Figure 5.
About 753 of the volume of each pellet was sand. The remaining 252 was
made up of organic material. Host of this organic material was brownish
flocculent detritus, and only a small portion could be identified as coming
from a particular organism.
The pellets coming from the one individual found in a sediment cover
habitat were of a different composition as shown in Figure 6. The
proportions of each pellet were reversed with 758 being organic material
and the remaining 258 being sand.
A comparison between what was found in the two pellet tupes in the
identifiable fraction is shown in Figure 7. Sponge spicules made up the
highest proportion by volume of the identifiable material in the first tupe
of pellet. Unidentifiable eggs made up the highest proportion in the second
type of fecal pellet collected from the one individual from a sediment
cover habitat.
Discussion:
Distribution
Anthomastus ritteriwere observed at all five sites surveged along
the cangon wall. All of the sites were located at depths ranging from
about 200m to 425m and were spread out around the bay along this band of
depth range.
The highest densities occur somewhere near the Cangon Wall Heander
site and falls off to the north and south. Sites with greater expanses of
exposed rock faces are likely to have higher concentrations than those
having mostly sediment cover habitats or rocky slopes. The densities
reached a maximum at about 350m and dropped off at deeper or shallower
sites. It is unclear why the species is more dense at a particular depth,
habitat type, or geographical location and these parameters are bu no
means inseparable. For example, it may be that they are most dense at
350m because this happens to be where the habitat is right for them at the
Canyon Wall Heender site. There are probably several other variables to
consider which  did not include in my research.
Other aspects of their benthic habitat, begond substrate tupe, must
be identified and studied in order to get a better idea of why they mau
prefer one habitat over another. Even substrate tupe was difficult to
characterize in the case of sediment cover because it is difficult to know
whether the sediment is in a thin lager over a hard rock surface or if it is
actually a thick sediment slope. It is assumed that the stalk of the
Anthonestusmust be attached to a rock base in order to keep the colonu
upright. Their concentration on a sediment slope would therefore be
limited by the number of small rocks found near the surface of the
sediment. The rock face substrate may be preferred to the rocky slope
because the entire surface has access to nutrient sources suspended in the
water column while on a rocky slope there are numerous crevices and pits
and less surface area which has a free access to the water column.
Their distribution by depth is also difficult to interpret especially
since only 20 minutes of video footage was surveged at depths greater
than 400 m as shown in Figure 3. The drop off in concentration at this end
may be less drastic than indicated in the figure. The actual depth is
probably less critical than other factors influencing distribution.
Pressure does not seem to play a significant role because one individual
which was collected and kept alive for three months at the Honterey Bau
Aquarium has been observed to grow and develope new polyps at ambient
pressure
The unequal geographical distribution of white versus red and pink
individuals is also a perplexing question. It is possible that theu
represent genetically different morphs with different ranges, but this is
not clear because there is a gradual gradation in color from white to pink
to red. It is possible that the color variation has something to do with
development and diet or other environmental factors. If it is intraspecific
genetic variation, the distribution could be attributed to a gradation of
selective pressures or larval settlement from different parental
populations from north to south.
These findings should be considered only as preliminary distributional
results. The sample sizes are quite variable by depth and location. The
densities by habitat type most likely depend heavily on the availability of
a suitable attachment site, but other considerations such as the level of
disturbance from deep currents are also likely to plag a significant role.
Another difficulty in analyzing these results arises from the fact that the
ROY does not cruise at a constant rate over the cangon wall surface and it
has a variable size to its field of view due to its proximity to the wall and
the setting of its zoom lens. These considerations were hopefullu
minimized by a large sampling. The amount of time sompled varied from
thirty-seven minutes at the Cangon Wall Heander site to one hour and
forty-seven minutes at the North Wall site. The sampling problems at
certain depths have already been discussed. The time was divided
relatively evenly among habitat tupes with a low of one hour and
thirty-five minutes spent on rocky slope and a high of two hours and
twenty-one minutes on exposed rock faces.
The depth range of all Anthomastus ritteri seen by the ROV was found
in the HBARI database to be 210 m to 430 m, but the data is patchy since
the ROV rarely goes below 400 m and also due to technical problems in
recording depth on some dives. In the original collections of the species
individuals were collected off Point Pinos north of the the Point Joe site
ot depths ranging from 518 m to 587 m. During these original collections
Atterwere also collected off the coast of Los Angeles and Santa
Barbaro at depths ranging from 393 m to 796 m neer Santa Barbara Island
and San Nicholas Island and from 920 m to 1236 m near Gull Island. One
species of Anthomestus, A. gronulesus (Kükenthal, 1910), which has been
found in both Japanese and South African waters has a shallower depth
range of 20 m to 200 m (Utinomi, 1960). A fisherjhas been found near
Hawaii from 200 m to 1027 m (Bayer, 1952), and A steenstrupihas been
found neor Jopon from 222 m to 1027 m (Nutting, 1900). A jopoicus
(Nutting, 1913) is found in Japanese waters and A grandiflorus (Verrill,
1883) is found in the North Atlantic in waters near Greenland, Iceland, and
Norwag south to the Caribbean Sea. Their depth ranges are 484 m to 989 m
and 136 m to 2773 m respectively (Nutting, 1913 and Jungersen, 1927).
The depth range of A tteriin Honterey Bag apparently extends shallower
thon once thought giving it an overall known depth range of 210 m to 1236
m. This range is similer, though somewhat deeper than A fisherjand A
steenstrupi
Feeding Behavior
The motility of the esophagus appears to be a programmed response
intiated by a large food item being inserted into the mouth by a tentacle.
Unce initiated it proceeds to completion whether or not the food particle
is ingested or not. Since the food particle passes down the expanded
esophagus to the base of the anthocodia before the peristaltic constriction
occurs at the distal end, cilie are probably responsible for the particle’s
movement. The gastrodermal lining of the esophagus in most alcyonaria is
flagellated (Hyman, 1940). The expanded esophagus may just give the food
porticle spoce to move and the peristaltic motion may serve to push doyn
angthing which mag have become lodged in the tube and to squeeze the food
particle down past the base of the anthocodia.
It is significont thot the polyp does not have to undergo a swelling
and bending over for the ingestion of small food particles. When a polup is
ingesting large food particles, it is not able to retract into the fleshy lobe
of the colong. This meons that the polyp is more susceptible to damage
from any threat which may have caused the polyps to retract. It is
important that the polyp need not expend as much energy or expose itself
to the possibility of damage when ingesting small food particles.
Anthocodia Retraction
Retraction in response to mechanical disturbances to the
Anthomastus rittericolony appears to be a defensive response. It is not
clear what the species must defend against in its natural environment. A
nudibronch, Tritonie diemedig, which is often seen at sites having
numerous Anthomastus ritterihas been identified as a possible predator.
This nudibranch is knovn to feed on sea pens in shallower waters and mau
be a predator of alcyonarians in general. Since the colony retracts its
polyps and squeezes its stalk down to cover it with the colong's lobe,
there mag be something that feeds on the polyps or the stalk but is
uninterested in eating the material which makes up the lobe. Also, bu
clamping down next to the rock and squeezing out any excess water, the
colony is less susceptible to being battered around by currents or the
incidental contact of other animals. In two of the seventeen Anthamastus
collected, catshark egg cases were wrapped tightly around the stalks.
There may be other interactions from different species which have the
potential to damage a colong.
The trro cycles of retroction and exponsion of polups in undisturbed
specimens were somewhat longer than a day in length. During the daytime
dives of the HBARI ROV, about 40 percent of the Anthomastusseen have
portially or completely retracted anthocodia. During the two cycles
observed in the lab, about 39 percent of the time was spent with
anthocodia partially or completely retracted. The closeness of these two
numbers suggests two things. The cycles observed in the lab are good
approximations of what occurs in the natural environment. At any given
time, the different Anthomastuscolonies in their natural environment are
ot different relative points along their individual cycles. This further
suggests, along with the measured length of the cycle of 27 hours, that the
cycles are not dependent on the daily cycle of night and dag. It would be
interesting to discover what the factors are which influence this cycle of
retraction and extension.
Fecal Analysis
The results of the fecal analysis suggest that Anthaastus ritteri
ingest different proportions of detritus and sand depending on habitat
tupe. The high proportion of sand mag indicate a greater exposure to
grains on rock faces either from sand falling from above or stronger
currents suspending coarser material. It is impossible to draw ang valid
comparisons about the diet of this species on different substrates since
examined the fecal pellets of only one specimen collected from a sediment
cover habitat. However, it is interesting that the one individual collected
from this habitat tupe had a striking difference in the composition of its
fecal pellets, and it seems reasonable that the proportions of sand and
detritus ingested would depend upon the immediate surroundings of the
individual.
The significonce of sand and detritus in the fecal pellets is that this
provides evidence that Anthonastus ritterimay be getting nutrients from
bacteria and the microfauna found associated with sand and detrital
particles as well as the detritus itself. Further circumstantial evidence
that they are purposely ingesting detritus as a source of nutrients is seen
in the fact that there is a zonation along the stalk of Anthomastus
colonies. Khile the bottom of the stalk is covered with a thin, visible
lager of brownish detritus, the upper part is cleon and white. The division
between these two zones is sharp and it lies on the stalk at a position as
far down the stalk as the polyps can reach. This suggests that the polups
dre feeding on the detritus which settles on their stalk and possiblu onu
microorganisms which grow there. From the fecal analysis it appears that
organic detritus and sand make up the largest part of the diet of
Anthomestus ritteri, while small crustaceans and poluchaetes are the
occasional larger food particles which come along. The other identifiable
constituents of the fecal pellets are probably being taken in with the sand
and detritus. By ingesting sand and detritus as a source of nutrients.
Anthomestus ritteriis exploiting virtually unlimited resources on the
cangon wall of Honterey Bau.
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Huscatine, L. and H. H. Lenhoff. 1974. Coelenterate Bioloqy. Revieys
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Nutting, C. C. 1913. Descriptions of the Alcyonaria Collected by the U. S.
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1906. Proceedings of the United States National Huseum.
Vol. 43. Government Printing Office. Washington D. C. pp.
23-25.
Utinomi, H. 1960. Noteworthy Octocorals Collected off the Southyest
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Hokogomo-Ken, Jopon. pp. 6-7.
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8


2
8:
5
Z
Figure2
Color Densities by Location
Soquel Cyn
North Wall
Wall Heander

C4-C

Point Joe
Anthomastus per minute
Figure 3
Distribution by Depth

38
oe
k
a.
.
Raaaa-
Pink & Red
white
Time al depth
Figure 4
Densities by Habitat
O.93/min
Sediment Cover

0.7 1/min
Rocky Slope

Rock Face

Anthomastus per minute
2.68/min
Figure 5
Fecal Pellet Composition by Volume
Exposed Rock Face
1.402
23.242
75.362
Figure 6
Fecal Pellet Composition by Volume
Sediment Cover
5.797
25.03
69.182
detritus
sand
E identisiable
detritus
sand
E identifiable
Figure 7
Constituents of Identifiable Organic Haterial
polychsete
foram
crustacean

datoms
e99
WR
sponge spicule
Percentage by Volume
80
Sediment Cover
Rock Face