Hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from Mauritanian Coral Mounds Author Gil, Marta Departamento de Ecoloxía e Bioloxía Animal, Facultade de Ciencias do Mar e Centro de Investigación Mariña (CIM-UVigo), Universidade de Vigo. Campus Lagoas-Marcosende. 36310 Vigo. Spain. & Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo. Subida Radio Faro 50. 36390 Vigo. Spain. Author Ramil, Fran Departamento de Ecoloxía e Bioloxía Animal, Facultade de Ciencias do Mar e Centro de Investigación Mariña (CIM-UVigo), Universidade de Vigo. Campus Lagoas-Marcosende. 36310 Vigo. Spain. & framil @ uvigo. es Author Agís, José Ansín Departamento de Ecoloxía e Bioloxía Animal, Facultade de Ciencias do Mar e Centro de Investigación Mariña (CIM-UVigo), Universidade de Vigo. Campus Lagoas-Marcosende. 36310 Vigo. Spain. & ansinjose @ gmail. com text Zootaxa 2020 2020-11-16 4878 3 412 466 journal article 7931 10.11646/zootaxa.4878.3.2 288c6fc9-269b-468f-8811-d79d4350f6e4 1175-5326 4425132 4F59F5B2-CFDB-4819-AF83-0EF232328F8D Bimeria vestita Wright, 1859 Bimeria vestita : Vervoort, 1992: 14–15 ; Calder, 1988: 21–23 , figs 17–18; Marques et al ., 2000: 322–324 , figs. 1–3; Ramil & Vervoort, 2006: 196–197 , fig. 5 no. 2; Schuchert, 2007: 247–250 , fig. 20; Schuchert, 2012: 216–217 , fig. 205. Material examined. MAURIT-1011, stn MUDR20 : 16º08´11”N , 16º56´08”W , 405 m , 7-XII-2010 : one colony, attached to Plumularia filicula , no gonophores . MSM 16/3, stn GeoB 14908–1, ROV, 17°40.213’– 17°40.191’N , 16°40.829’– 16°40.289’W , 463–574 m , 16- XI-2010 : eight colonies without gonophores, two colonies attached to Lophelia pertusa , three colonies attached to Sertularella gayi , one colony attached to Acesta excavata (Fabricius, 1779) , one colony attached to cirripedia. Biology. Bimeria vestita usually grows on other hydroids and on pebbles, algae, sponges, bryozoans, tubes of sabellids and gastropod shells ( Genzano & Zamponi 1999 ; Schuchert 2012 ). Colonies with gonophores were found in the early summer in the Northeast Atlantic ( Schuchert 2012 ), from October to February in the Mediterranean ( Boero & Fresi 1986 ), August to September in the Northwest Atlantic ( Calder 1988 ) and spring to autumn in the Southwest Atlantic ( Genzano & Zamponi 1999 ). The colonies studied by us were found growing on L. pertusa , A. excavata , cirripeds and the hydroids P. filicula and S. gayi . Distribution. This species has a circumglobal distribution without any records in the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans ( Vervoort 2006 ). In West Africa, it was collected from Morocco ( Patriti 1970 ), West Sahara ( Leloup 1937 ), Canary Islands ( Vervoort 2006 ), Mauritania ( Gil & Ramil 2017a ), Senegal ( Picard 1951 ), Cape Verde Archipelago ( Vervoort 2006 ) and Ghana ( Buchanan 1957 ). Its bathymetric distribution ranges from 0 ( Schuchert 2012 ) to 405 m ( Gil & Ramil 2017a ). Our material was collected from depths of 405 to 574 m , representing the deepest record for this species. Remarks. The colonies showed a firm perisarc covering the stem and branches of the colonies that extends as a soft pseudohydrotheca over the hydranths, including the bases of the tentacles; all these characteristics are distinctive of B. vestita ( Calder 1988 ; Schuchert 2012 ).