A review of the family Sphaeronectidae (Class Hydrozoa, Order Siphonophora), with the description of three new species
Author
P. R. Pugh
text
Zootaxa
2009
2147
1
48
journal article
1175-5326
Sphaeronectes fragilis
Carré, 1968
(See
Figure 16
)
Sphaeronectes fragilis
Carré, 1968b, p. 1
, Pl. 1–2; 1968c, p. 84, Pl. 1, fig. 4; Bouillon
et al.
2004, p. 230, fig. 141F,G; Gamulin & Kršinić, 2000, p. 137, fig. 87.
Distribution:
Sphaeronectes fragilis
was described by C. Carré (1968b) from a score of specimens collected in a nonclosing net fished at
10 m
depth in the entrance to the Rade de Villefranche-sur-Mer. Dallot
et al
. (1988) also found specimens at two stations in the western Mediterranean (Alborán Sea) and, apparently, on the Atlantic side of the Straits of
Gibraltar
, in vertical nets hauled from a maximum of
200 m
.
Ianora & Scotto di Carlo (1981) also found
12 specimens
in the Bay of Naples between 50 and
300 m
.
In the eastern Mediterranean the species has been found in the Adriatic by Rottini (1966a,b), Gamulin (1977, 1982), Gamulin & Kršinić (1993a,b, 2000), and Lučić
et al
. (2005); the last authors finding it mainly concentrated at a depth of c.
100 m
.
Apart from record from Dallot
et al
. (1988), for just west of the Straits of
Gibraltar
, there appear to be no other Atlantic Ocean records for this species. However, it has been found on a number of occasions at various locations off the coast of
Chile
by Sergio Palma and his co-workers, e.g. Palma (2006), Palma & Rosales (1995, 1997), Apablaza & Palma (2006), and by Pagès & Orejas (1999). Sergio Palma (personal communication) informs me that he has been able to identify the eudoxid stage of this species.