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
Halecium tenellum
Hincks, 1861b
Fig. 6d
Halecium tenellum
Hincks, 1861b: 252
, pl. 6, figs. 1–4.—
Jones, 2002: 216
.
Type
locality.
UK
:
Devon
,
Salcombe Bay
(Hincks 1961b)
.
Voucher material.
Jeff’s Reef
off
Fort Pierce
,
27°32.8’N
,
79°58.8’W
,
80 m
,
15.iv.1977
,
Johnson-Sea-Link
, JSL 2184-
A
,
diver lockout, one colony,
1.3 cm
high, without gonophores, coll.
F. Stanton
,
ROMIZ
B1105
.
Remarks
. The morphology of the hydroid examined here approaches accounts of
Halecium delicatulum
Coughtrey, 1876
(
type
locality: Upper Harbour, Dunedin,
New Zealand
) and
H. mediterraneum
Weismann, 1883
(
type
locality: Naples,
Italy
) in having typically long primary hydrophores. However, no pseudodiaphragm such as that often reported in both of those species (e.g.,
Schuchert 2005
) was present in hydrophores of the colony from Florida. It was also small (
1.3 cm
high) and its hydrocaulus monosiphonic except at the base, as is typical of
Halecium tenellum
Hincks, 1861b
.
In the western North Atlantic,
Fraser (1944)
included distribution records of
Halecium tenellum
from Hudson Strait to the Caribbean Sea. At least some reports of the species from high latitudes have been based on misidentifications (
Hamond 1957
;
Cornelius 1975
;
Calder 1991a
;
Schuchert 2005
). The species is more likely restricted to temperate and tropical waters. An extensive list of literature pertaining to
H. tenellum
was given by
Medel & Vervoort (2000)
.
Reported distribution.
Atlantic coast of
Florida
. Biscayne
Bay
(
Jones 2002
).
Western Atlantic. Possibly from southern New
England
(
Fraser 1944
) to
Argentina
(Oliveira
et al
. submitted), including
Bermuda
(
Calder 1991a
), the Gulf of Mexico (
Calder & Cairns 2009
), and the Caribbean Sea (
Galea 2010
).
Elsewhere. Considered a cosmopolitan species by
Medel & Vervoort (2000)
, but see Remarks above.