The non-Siphonophoran Hydrozoa (Cnidaria) of Salento, Italy with notes on their life-cycles: an illustrated guide
Author
Gravili, Cinzia
Author
Vito, Doris De
Author
Camillo, Cristina Gioia Di
Author
Martell, Luis
Author
Piraino, Stefano
Author
Boero, Ferdinando
text
Zootaxa
2015
3908
1
1
187
journal article
42365
10.11646/zootaxa.3908.1.1
6f1d1977-6b97-4789-828c-76ed250cf1ae
1175-5326
242729
D6AD2B49-170B-4D9C-84AA-DBE0FEEAD8BE
Eudendrium glomeratum
Picard, 1951
Fig. 17
A–F
See
Schuchert (2008b)
for a complete synonymy.
FIGURE 17.
Eudendrium glomeratum
:
A
, typical colony;
B
, hydranth with characteristic nematocyst buttons;
C
, male blastostyle;
D
, female blastostyle;
E
, particular of a female gonophore (C, D, E same scale bar);
F
, nematocysts: intact macrobasic euryteles (drawn by C.G. Di Camillo). Scale bars: A, 2.0 cm; B, 0.5 mm; C, D, E, 0.2 mm; F, 10 µm.
Material examined.
HCUS-S 0 20 and HCUS-S 0 21 (Hydrozoa Collection, University of Salento—fauna of the Salento Peninsula).
Description
(based on our own observations;
Marinopoulos 1992
;
Marques
et al.
2000a
,
b
;
Schuchert 2008b
,
2012
):
Hydroid.
Hydrorhiza rhizocaulomic; colonies erect, up to
30 cm
high; hydrocauli polysiphonic, branched, with thick perisarc in older parts, becoming thin in younger regions; hydranths urn-shaped, with a ring composed of several nematocyst buttons (4–10) that sometimes coalesce into an irregular band, some buttons also scattered on hydranth body; hypostome flared; 15–28 filiform tentacles in one whorl. Gonophores as fixed sporosacs; females developed on reduced hydranth (4–6 gonophores per blastostyle) with unbranched spadix; males provided with 1–2 chambers; mature blastostyle with either a normal number of tentacles or a reduced number partly atrophied tentacles, with or without terminal buttons. Colours: perisarc brown in older parts, becoming yellowish to transparent in younger regions; hydranths red.
Cnidome.
Holotrichous macrobasic euryteles (
24x10 to 28
x11 µm), butt long (4 times length of capsule) and spirally coiled around the big axis of the cnidocyst; these cnidocysts are concentrated in several groups characteristically conspicuous at the basal half of the polyp; also heterotrichous microbasic euryteles (
6x
2.5 to
9x
4 mm
) on tentacles and ectoderm.
Habitat
type
and substrate.
It occurs on various solid substrata (rocky walls, caves, hard substrates, detritus, biogenic banks,
Posidonia
); depth range
0–200 m
(
Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002
), more commonly in depths of
10–40 m
(
Picard 1951a
;
Rossi 1961
;
Boero 1981a
,
1983
;
Bavestrello 1985
;
Boero & Fresi 1986
;
Arillo
et al
. 1989
;
Roca
et al
. 1991
;
Bavestrello & Arillo 1992
;
Bavestrello & Cerrano 1992
;
Bavestrello
et al
. 1996
; Morri & Bianchi, 1999;
Piraino
et al
. 1999
;
Marques
et al.
2000a
;
Faucci & Boero 2000
;
Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa, 2002
;
Morri
et al
. 2009
; Puce
et al.
2009).
Seasonality.
In the Ligurian Sea (
Boero & Fresi 1986
) from October to April (
Boero & Fresi 1986
; Boero
et al.
1986), and January–May, July–December (Puce
et al.
2009); all year in Salento waters (De Vito 2006; this study).
Reproductive period.
In the Mediterranean, fertile colonies can be found all year round (
Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002
;
Schuchert 2008b
), but the peak of reproduction seems to be during autumn and winter (
Boero 1984
; Boero
et al.
1986; De Vito 2006; Puce
et al.
2009; this study).
Distribution.
Rather common and widespread in the western and eastern Mediterranean, including the African and
Israeli
coasts (
Schuchert 2008b
); Northeastern Atlantic, Indo-Pacific (distribution probably wider; it resembles the species
E. ramosum
, and many records under this name could possibly belong to
E. glomeratum
).
Records in Salento.
Common at Porto Cesareo (
Faucci & Boero 2000
), and Otranto (De Vito 2006; Gravili 2006;
Gravili
et al
. 2008a
; this study).
References.
Motz-Kossovoska (1905) as
E. ramosum
,
Picard (1958a)
,
Rossi (1971)
,
Boero & Fresi (1986)
,
Roca (1986)
,
Boero & Cornelius (1987)
,
Bavestrello & Cerrano (1992)
,
Marinopoulos (1992)
, Altuna (1994),
Medel & López-González (1996)
,
Marques
et al.
(2000a
,
b
),
Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa (2002)
, Bouillon
et al.
(2004),
Puce
et al.
(2005a
, 2009), De Vito (2006), Gravili (2006),
Gravili
et al
. (2008a)
,
Schuchert (2008b
,
2012
),
Morri
et al.
(2009)
,
Bianchi
et al.
(2011)
.