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The Bathyal Holothurians of the New Zealand Region

Benthogone Koehler, 1896

Benthogone Koehler, 1896

Diagnosis: Mouth ventral, surrounded by 15–20 tentacles. Body flattened or almost cylindrical. Ventrolateral radii each with a single row of ca. 15 retractile pedicels; midventral radius naked. Dorsal radii with numerous small processes in a single, sometimes double row. Deposits strongly vaulted wheels of one type, with an average diameter of 0.078mm.

Type Species: Benthogone rosea Koehler.

Remarks: This genus is monotypic, differing from other genera in the family Laetmogonidae in possessing wheels of only one type; these are not associated with any other deposits, except in the pedicels. Accessory deposits are spinous rods, which are found in the pedicels, processes and tentacles.

Benthogone rosea Koehler

Benthogone rosea Koehler, 1896, p. 114; Pawson, 1965a, p. 219, Pl. V, figs. 2–5 (synonymy).

Material Examined: "Tui" Stn. 098–17, 2 specimens.

Remarks: This species is described and discussed elsewhere (Pawson, 1965a).

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Distribution: Off south-west Ireland, 1,200–1,765 metres, Bay of Biscay, off Azores Is., African coast to Cape Verde Islands, 1,000–2,320 metres (Mortensen, 1927). The occurrence of species north of New Zealand is unexpected, but it now seems likely that B. rosea is widespread in the Atlantic and southern Pacific Oceans.