Velella velella ( Linnaeus, 1758 )

Calder, Dale R., 2013, Some shallow-water hydroids (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) from the central east coast of Florida, USA, Zootaxa 3648 (1), pp. 1-72 : 8

Velella velella ( Linnaeus, 1758)

Fig. 1c

Medusa velella Linnaeus, 1758: 660 .

Velella mutica .—L. Agassiz, 1862: 366.—A. Agassiz, 1865: 217.— Fewkes, 1886: 974.

Velella velella .— Bayer, 1963: 454, figs. 5–7.

Type locality. Mediterranean Sea ( Schuchert 2010).

Voucher material. Beach north of Jupiter Inlet, 26°56’45”N, 80°04’16”W, stranded on shore, 20.ii.1991, collected manually, one young colony, left-sailing form, 5 mm long x 2 mm wide, without gonophores, coll. D.R. Calder, ROMIZ B1113 .

Remarks. Strandings of the pleustonic hydrozoan Velella velella ( Linnaeus, 1758) on beaches of south Florida vary from one year to another ( Bayer 1963). Bayer noted that strong easterly winds during winter tend to blow this species and the related Porpita porpita ( Linnaeus, 1758) ashore from the Florida Current just off the coast.

The specimen from the beach at Jupiter Inlet examined here was a left-sailing form, as defined by Edwards (1966). Of more than 2500 specimens from the Tortugas studied by A. Agassiz (1883), all were likewise of the “left-handed” (left-sailing) form, with the sail extending from NW to SE along the longitudinal axis of the float. Distributions of left and right-sailing forms of the species in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea were reviewed by Edwards (1966). Sailing characteristics of the species were investigated in a wind tunnel by Francis (1991).

Early on considered siphonophores and later as “chondrophores,” both V. velella and P. porpita are now classified amongst the hydroids, as anthoathecates ( Calder 1988, 2010; Schuchert 2010, 2012a, b). Sometimes reported from Florida as Velella mutica Lamarck, 1801 , that binomen is considered a junior synonym of V. velella ( Calder 1988; Schuchert 2010).

Reported distribution. Atlantic coast of Florida. “ Coast of Florida ” (L. Agassiz 1862, as Velella mutica ).— Cape Florida (A. Agassiz 1865, as V. mutica ).— Gulf Stream; Straits of Florida ( Fewkes 1886, as V. mutica ).— Miami area ( Bayer 1963).

Western Atlantic. New England (A. Agassiz 1883, as Velella mutica ) to Argentina (Oliveira et al. submitted), including Bermuda ( Calder 1988), the Gulf of Mexico ( Calder & Cairns 2009), and the Caribbean Sea ( Fewkes 1885, as V. mutica ).

Elsewhere. Circumglobal in tropical and temperate waters ( Calder 2010; Schuchert 2012b).

Figures

FIGURE 1. a, Pennaria disticha: part of hydrocaulus with annulated pedicel and juvenile hydranth, ROMIZ B1118; scale equals 0.5 mm. b, Cladocoryne floccosa: stem and hydranth, ROMIZ B1114, scale equals 0.5 mm. c, Velella velella: juvenile, left-sailing form, ROMIZ B1113, scale equals 1 mm. d, Zanclea alba: pedicel and hydranth, ROMIZ B3961, scale equals 0.25 mm. e, Solanderia gracilis: tip of branch with three hydranths, ROMIZ B3962, scale equals 0.25 mm. f, Turritopsis fascicularis: pedicel and hydranth with medusa bud, ROMIZ B1106, scale equals 0.25 mm. g, Parawrightia robusta: part of pedicel and hydranth, ROMIZ B1110, scale equals 0.25 mm. h, Bimeria vestita: pedicel and hydranth, ROMIZ B1116, scale equals 0.25 mm. i, Eudendrium carneum: part of hydrocaulus with pedicel and hydranth, ROMIZ B3960, scale equals 0.25 mm.