Some shallow-water hydroids (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) from the central east coast of Florida, USA Author Calder, Dale R. text Zootaxa 2013 2013-05-14 3648 1 1 72 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3648.1.1 journal article 10.11646/zootaxa.3648.1.1 1175-5326 5264362 22089255-436A-4DBB-BD93-1D3C8CF281FE Clytia noliformis ( McCrady, 1859 ) Fig. 16a, b Campanularia noliformis McCrady, 1859: 194 , pl. 11, fig. 4. Type locality. Bermuda : Castle Harbour , on a dead octocoral ( International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 2002 ); based on a neotype . Voucher material. Fort Pierce , Fort Pierce Inlet State Park , 27°28’29.5”N , 80°17’25.8”W , on stranded Sargassum natans , 14.vii.2012 , 28° C, 35‰, collected manually, two colonies, with gonophores, coll. D.R. Calder , ROMIZ B3984 . FIGURE 16. a, Clytia noliformis : hydrotheca and distal part of pedicel, ROMIZ B3984, scale equals 0.10 mm. b, Clytia noliformis : gonotheca, ROMIZ B3984, scale equals 0.10 mm. c, Clytia paulensis : part of colony with hydrotheca and pedicel, ROMIZ B1103, scale equals 0.20 mm. d, Clytia paulensis : hydrotheca and distal part of pedicel, ROMIZ B1103, scale equals 0.10 mm. e, Obelia geniculata : part of hydrocaulus with three hydrothecae, ROMIZ B1119, scale equals 0.25 mm. f, Obelia hyalina : part of colony with three hydrothecae, ROMIZ B3985, scale equals 0.25 mm. g, Obelia oxydentata : part of colony with three hydrothecae, ROMIZ B1112, scale equals 0.25 mm. Remarks . The hydroid species recorded here, widely known for a century as Clytia noliformis ( McCrady, 1859 ) , has been objectively defined recently by a neotype ( International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 2002 ). Evidence had arisen that the binomen C. noliformis was likely applied by McCrady (1859) to a different species ( Calder 1991a ; Lindner & Calder 2000 ), more closely resembling C. hemisphaerica ( Linnaeus, 1767 ) . A neotype was therefore needed to conserve prevailing usage of the name. McCrady’s hydrozoan types (including any of C. noliformis ) are believed to have been destroyed during the American Civil War ( Stephens & Calder 1992 ). Clytia noliformis is an abundant epibiont on pelagic Sargassum , and especially so on S. natans (Burkenroad, in Parr 1939 ; Calder 1995 ). Colonies grow quickly outwards onto new phylloids (leaflets) and bladders of these fucoids, and are least abundant on the oldest and innermost parts of the thalli ( Ryland 1974 ). Niermann (1986) reported that C. noliformis was more prevalent on S. natans north of a thermal front in the Sargasso Sea than south of it. The difference was attributed to greater water stratification in the south and to a lower nutrient supply, resulting in less food (nannoplankton) for the hydroid. A combination of morphological characters can be used to distinguish Clytia noliformis from its congeners (colonies stolonal; hydrothecae about equal in height and breadth at the margin; marginal cusps triangular; basal chambers of hydrothecae shallow; subhydrothecal spherule present; coenosarc and hydranths yellowish), and merotrichous isorhiza nematocysts are diagnostic ( Lindner & Migotto 2001 , 2002 ). As for gonothecae, they are urn-shaped, arise from the hydrorhiza, have walls that are slightly undulated and cylindrical to laterally compressed, and the distal end bears a tubular neck ( Calder 1991a ). The cnidome of C. noliformis includes microbasic b-mastigophores as well as merotrichous isorhizas. The life cycle of C. noliformis has been followed in the laboratory from hydroid to adult medusa stages ( Lindner & Migotto 2002 ). A detailed taxonomic account of the species has been given earlier ( Calder 1991a ). Reported distribution. Atlantic coast of Florida . First record. Western Atlantic. Nova Scotia, on Sargassum ( Fraser 1918 ) , to Brazil (Oliveira et al . submitted), and including Bermuda ( Calder 1991a ), the Gulf of Mexico ( Calder & Cairns 2009 ), and the Caribbean Sea ( Vervoort 1968 , as Campanularia ( Clytia ) noliformis ). Elsewhere. Sargasso Sea ( Niermann 1986 ); warm waters of the eastern Atlantic ( Rees & White 1966 ; Wirtz 2007 ) including the Mediterranean Sea ( Faucci & Boero 2000 ), Indian Ocean ( Mammen 1965 ), western Pacific ( Kirkendale & Calder 2003 ), and eastern Pacific ( Fraser 1948 ).