Abstract
I HAVE recently had occasion to examine a number of Comatul from Milford Haven which were kindly given to me by Mr. W. Percy Sladen, F.L.S., and appear to belong to the type that was figured by Miller under the name of Comatula fimbriata; and I was surprised to find many of the pinnules presenting distinct traces of an encysting Myzostoma. In each of the dozen individuals the joints of one or more pinnules are abnormally developed, and in some cases they form definite cysts, which are, however, much smaller than those found on the pinnules of many Comatul and Pentacrinid from the Pacific and Oceania; but they are obviously of the same character and due to the presence of a parasitic Myzostoma. According to Prof. L. von Graff eight species of encysting Myzostoma are at present known, but they are limited to depths of 120 to 600 fathoms in the Pacific, the Eastern Archipelago, and the Caribbean Sea, with the exception of one which was dredged by the Hassler in 35 fathoms off Cape Frio, Brazil.
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CARPENTER, P. An Encysting “Myzostoma” in Milford Haven . Nature 32, 391 (1885). https://doi.org/10.1038/032391b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/032391b0
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