Two New Species of Deep-Water Corallimorpharia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) from the Northeast Pacific, Corallimorphus denhartogi and C. pilatus

Abstract

Corallimorpharia is currently considered an order of hexacorallian anthozoans. Being skeletonless, its members are sometimes referred to as sea anemones, but they are morphologically more similar to members of Scleractinia than to members of Actiniaria. We describe two new species of corallimorpharians from deep water off the west coast of North America as Corallimorphus denhartogi, n. sp. and Corallimorphus pilatus, n. sp. The former occurs at depths of 2550-4300 m from Oregon to Baja California, and the latter at depths of 198-900 m from British Columbia to southernmost California. The average size of individuals of C. denhartogi is greater than that of C. pilatus, and tentacles of the latter are more densely arrayed and relatively longer than those of the former. The distribution and sizes of their cnidae distinguish them from one another as well as from their four congeners, which are widely distributed in the world's oceans. In the collections we examined, specimens of C. denhartogi are more common than those of C. pilatus.