Sertularella polyzonias ( Linnaeus, 1758 )

Gil, Marta & Ramil, Fran, 2025, Hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from Guinea Bissau, Zootaxa 5577 (1), pp. 1-89 : 46

Sertularella polyzonias ( Linnaeus, 1758)

( Fig. 8A )

Sertularia polyzonias Linnaeus, 1758: 813 . Sertularella polyzonias : Billard, 1906b: 186.— Fraser, 1944: 268–270, Pl. LVIII fig. 258.— Buchanan, 1957: 366.— Patriti,

1970: 39, fig. 50.— Redier, 1971: 511–512.— Ramil & Vervoort, 1992a: 225–227, fig. 63A, B.— Medel & Vervoort, 1998:

47–51, fig. 13.— Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa, 2002: 134–136, fig. 25F–H.— Vervoort, 2006: 268–269. Sertularella polyzonias forma typica: Broch, 1914: 34.

Material examined. BISSAU-0810, stn BS132, 11º31'33"N, 17º14'07"W, 23-X-2008: four colonies, 10–21 mm high, without gonothecae, of which two growing on Diphasia margareta and another two on Desmophyllum pertusum .

BISSAU-0810, stn BS157, 10º19'36"– 10º18'44"N, 17º10'29"– 17º10'12"W, 304–308 m, 28-X-2008: seven colonies 12–27 mm high, without gonothecae, of which two growing on Diphasia margareta , and one on a worm tube.

BISSAU-0810, stn BS174, 10º01'42"– 10º02'16"N, 17º00'52"– 17º01'35"W, 419 m, 31-X-2008: one colony 17 mm high, without gonothecae, growing on a worm tube.

BISSAU-0810, stn BS191, 10º18'25"– 10º19'20"N, 16º08'47"– 16º08'47"W, 24–25 m, 3-XI-2008: one colony without gonothecae; substrate unknown.

BISSAU-0810, stn BS216, 10º30'53"– 10º31'39"N, 16º31'33"– 16º32'02"W, 56–58 m, 7-XI-2008: one colony 35 mm high, without gonothecae; substrate unknown.

Remarks. This well-known species needs no further comment. We have reported this species for the first time from the waters of Guinea-Bissau.

Biology. This species has been found growing on many different substrates, such as rocks, algae, seagrasses, sponges, hydrozoans, anthozoans, bryozoans, worm tubes, mollusk shells and cirripedes ( Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002). Sertularella polyzonias is capable of rapidly colonize new substrates by asexual propagation, thus minimizing losses caused by trawling ( Henry et al. 2006). In the northern hemisphere, fertile material has been found throughout the year ( Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002; Gravili et al. 2015), while in the southern hemisphere, gonothecae were observed in January ( Gil & Ramil 2021b).

In our material, some colonies were found growing on D. margareta , D. pertusum and worm tubes. Gonothecae were not observed.

Distribution. Sertularella polyzonias is an almost cosmopolitan species ( Gravili et al. 2015), but it was not included by Peña Cantero (2004) within his list of Antarctic hydroids. In West Africa, it has been collected from Morocco ( Billard 1906b; Patriti 1970; Ramil & Vervoort 1992a), Mauritania ( Gil & Ramil 2017a), the Ivory Coast ( Redier 1971), Ghana ( Buchanan 1957), Angola ( Broch 1914) and the Vema Seamount ( Gil & Ramil 2021b). Its bathymetric distribution extends from 2 ( Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002) to 2500 m ( Fraser 1944).

Our material was collected at depths between 24–419 m.

Figures

FIGURE 8. A. Sertularella polyzonias (Linnaeus, 1758) (stn BS157), portion of colony. B. Sertularella undulitheca Vervoort, 1959 (stn BS192), portion of hydrocladium. C. Amphisbetia distans (Lamouroux, 1816) (stn BS192), portion of stem. D–F. Idiellana pristis (Lamouroux, 1816) (stn BS191); portion of hydrocladium (D); gonothecae (E–F). Scales: a–f, 0.5 mm.