Plymouth Peridinians: II. Exuviella Perforata Gran from the English Channel

Extract

In centrifuging samples of sea water from Plymouth Sound and some of the stations outside, some interesting forms of Exuviella were found. These are all minute, the largest measuring 22 µ in length, and consequently are easily overlooked, although one at least is abundant during the summer months. This species, which is the commonest Exuviella in the Plymouth district, has been identified as Exuviella perforata Gran, described by him from the North Sea (1915), and is a new record for the English Channel. As it appears to be very little known and its structure is unusual in several particulars, the following notes are not without interest.

In 1915 Gran (page 99, Fig. 7) describes and figures Exuviella perforata, a new species from the North Sea at a depth of 0–20 metres, occurring in the eastern part with a density of 100–760 specimens per litre. It is roundish oval or nearly circular in shape, measuring 22.5–25 µ long and 21–22.5 µ wide, with a broad girdle and thick shell (thickness of cell 14–17 µ). The character, however, that gives it peculiar distinction is the depression in the centre of each valve, as Gran puts it, “with a sharply confined point-shaped perforated deepening in the centre.” This separates it from any previously known species of Exuviella. The cell contents owing to contraction could not be described in detail, but in a footnote it is stated that living specimens from Arendal in March, 1914, had brown chromatophores. Cleve-Euler (1917) records an Exuviella, which he says may be E. perforata Gran, as occurring frequently in the Skaggerak, from 0 to 100 metres.