A new appendicularian, Oikopleura gorskyi n. sp. (Tunicata), from norwegian fjords

A new appendicularian, Oikopleura gorskyi n. sp., recovered from numerous plankton samples taken at depths between 1200 and 400 m in Sognefjorden, western Norway, as well as in more shallow water in this and other western Norwegian fjords, is described. The species is easily identified by the limited extension of its oikoblastic epithelium, the small size of its right stomach lobe and the disposition of its subchordal cells in two segments of an antero-posterior line with some 13 and 8 plateshaped cells respectively. The unique pattern of its house rudiment inclusion body and the unique cell nuclear pattern in its oikoblastic epithelium are additional, although less easily observable, characters of this species.