Halecium tenellum Hincks 1861
- Dataset
- Hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from Mauritanian Coral Mounds
- Rank
- SPECIES
Classification
- kingdom
- Animalia
- phylum
- Cnidaria
- class
- Hydrozoa
- order
- Leptothecata
- family
- Haleciidae
- genus
- Halecium
- species
- Halecium tenellum
biology_ecology
Biology. This species has been found growing frequently on other hydroids and on rocks, pebbles and as epibiont on algae and a wide range of invertebrates (Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002). Fertile material has been found in January, April, May, June, October and December (Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002; Medel & Vervoort 2000). The colony studied by us was growing on L. pertusa.
discussion
Remarks. Although gonothecae were absent in our material, the delicate aspects of the colony, such as long, thin and straight internodes disposed in zigzag directions, well-developed primary hydranthophores and stark flared hydrothecal rim, allowed us identify it as H. tenellum.
distribution
Distribution. Halecium tenellum is a near cosmopolitan species (Cornelius 1975), with records in all oceans, including polar waters. Its distribution was reviewed in detail by Medel & Vervoort (2000), but some identifications from high latitudes in the North Atlantic are erroneous (Calder 1991; Schuchert 2005). In West Africa, it was collected from Morocco (Patriti 1970; Ramil & Vervoort 1992), Canary Islands (Vervoort 2006), Mauritania (Gil & Ramil 2017 a), Cape Verde Islands (Medel & Vervoort 2000; Vervoort 2006), Guinea-Bissau (Vervoort 1959; Gili et al. 1989), Guinea (Vervoort 1959) and Ghana (Buchanan 1957; Vervoort 1959). Its bathymetric range extends from the intertidal zone to 1200 m (Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002). Our material was collected from a depth of 488 m.
materials_examined
Material examined. MAURIT- 0911, stn MUDR 01, 16 º 08´24 ” N, 16 º 57´12 ” W, 488 m, 5 - XII- 2009: one colony, attached to Lophelia pertusa, no gonothecae.
Name
- Homonyms
- Halecium tenellum Hincks 1861