"Umbrella to 1.2 m in diameter. Exumbrella: smooth, with mesoglea at center. Umbrellar margin: divided into 24 lappets more or less distinct; velar lappets: 8, broadly rounded, alternating with paired rhopaliar lappets: 16, lingulate. Rhopalia: 8, in deep niches between rhopaliar lappets. Tentacles: subumbrellar, in 8 adjacent groups, less than 10 per group, flattened, noticeably thick (3-5 mm or more in diameter), very long (greater than 5 mm), adjacent to periphery coronal muscle, arranged in a single linear row across proximal portion of velar lappets only. Coronal muscle: circular, folded, well-developed, divided by radial septa into 16 trapezoidal muscle fields; velar muscle fields alternate with somewhat narrower rhopaliar fields. Oral arms: 4, broad, curtainlike, pleated, about length of umbrella diameter or longer. Gonads: 4, large, saclike, everted, about 1/3 length of oral arms. Gastric pouches: 16, velar pouches slightly broader than rhopaliar pouches, terminating as blind-ending (rarely anastomosing) canals. Velar canals: dendritic, about equal in number at origin to tentacles, branching 3-4 times (mostly unilaterally) with branches becoming progressively shorter. Rhopaliar canals: single and broad at origin but narrowing toward umbrellar margin and branching bilaterally into short secondary and tertiary branches. Color: in preserved specimens, uniformly pink; in life, pink-violet."

 

(Larson, 1986)

Southern Ocean

Paratype for Desmonema glaciale Larson, 1986
Catalog Number: USNM 53691
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Invertebrate Zoology
Preparation: Formalin
Collector(s): W. Schmitt
Year Collected: 1963
Locality: Antarctic Peninsula, Graham Land, Paradise Harbor, Antarctica, Antarctic Ocean
Vessel: Staten Island R/V

Paratype for Desmonema glaciale Larson, 1986
Catalog Number: USNM 58892
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Invertebrate Zoology
Preparation: Formalin
Collector(s): J. Dearborn
Locality: Victoria Land, Mcmurdo Sound, Hut Point, Antarctica, Ross Sea, Antarctic Ocean
Vessel: Staten Island R/V

Holotype for Desmonema glaciale Larson, 1986
Catalog Number: USNM 53749
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Invertebrate Zoology
Preparation: Formalin
Collector(s): C. Ray
Year Collected: 1966
Locality: Victoria Land, Mcmurdo Sound, Erebus Bay, Turtle Rock, Antarctica, Ross Sea, Antarctic Ocean

Paratype for Desmonema glaciale Larson, 1986
Catalog Number: USNM 53690
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Invertebrate Zoology
Preparation: Formalin
Collector(s): D. Squires
Year Collected: 1966
Locality: Antarctic Peninsula, Palmer Land, NE Of, Antarctica, Antarctic Ocean