MXieuicanJAuscum - American Museum of Natural History

10 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES
NO0. 1965
biscuit" dredged from the top of the Great Meteor Seamount. The
nodular limestone specimen, approximately 6 inches in diameter and
3 inches thick, also contained many specimens of Balanophyllia formosa
Gravier in solution cavities developed in the dense matrix.
Several specimens of these nodules were collected in this haul. The
primary rock is a densely lithified, light tan lutite containing abundant
Foraminifera and fragments of molluscan shells. In the case of the
specimen containing corals, the primary rock had been largely dissolved,
the solution passages often cutting directly through fossils in
the primary matrix. Filling the solution cavities is an off-white coquina
partially cemented but not so completely so as to prohibit removal
of the corals. Aside from small pelecypods, the only complete fossil
was the specimen of Caryophyllia arcuata, the coralla of B. formosa
being fragmentary. The secondary fillings had in turn been partially
dissolved, with some solution passages passing through coquina, matrix,
and shells alike. Unfortunately, too little material is present for carbon-
14 analysis, and the antiquity of the specimens must remain undetermined.
However, it seems fairly evident that two, possibly three, cycles
of erosion and solution are represented in the history of the specimen.
DISTRIBUTION: Atlantic and Indian oceans and Mediterranean Sea.
OCCURRENCE: Sub-Recent: A-180-27, Great Meteor Seamount; 290
meters.
Caryophyllia clavus Scacchi, 1835
Caryophyllia clavus Scacchi, GRAvIER, 1920, in R6sultats des campagnes
scientifiques ... par Albert Ier ... de Monaco, fasc. 55, p. 16, pl. 1, figs. 3-18,
pl. 2, figs. 19-25.
Two specimens of this common species were recovered from a rock
dredge haul. Both were dead and were attached to each other. Measurements
of the coralla are given in table 2.
DISTRIBUTION: Atlantic and Indian oceans and Mediterranean Sea.
OCCURRENCE: Recent: A180-28, Great Meteor Seamount; 275 meters.
TABLE 2
MEASUREMENTS (IN MILLIMETERS) OF Caryophyllia clavus
Specimen 1 Specimen 2
Height 12.8 11.7
Diameters of calice 9.4 X 9.0+ 8.6 X 8.5
Number of septa 40