Sertularella gayi ( Lamouroux, 1821 )

Gil, Marta, Ramil, Fran & Agís, José Ansín, 2020, Hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from Mauritanian Coral Mounds, Zootaxa 4878 (3), pp. 412-466 : 429-430

Sertularella gayi ( Lamouroux, 1821)

( Fig. 3 B–D)

Sertularella gayi gayi: Ramil & Vervoort, 1992: 219–222 , fig. 61a–e; Medel & Vervoort, 1998: 40–45, fig. 10–11; Vervoort, 2006: 267.

Sertularella gayi: Billard, 1906a: 184–185 , fig. 9; Billard, 1906b:73; Billard, 1931: 675; Buchanan, 1957: 366; Vervoort, 1959: 273–275, figs. 33B–C, 34B; Redier, 1965: 373; Rees & Thursfield, 1965: 134; Vervoort, 1966: 127–128, fig. 30; Patriti, 1970: 37–38, fig. 48; Gili et al., 1989: 102–103, fig. 27; Ramil et al., 1992: 496–500, figs. 1a, 2–3.

Material examined. MAURIT-0911, stn MUDR01 , 16º08´24”N, 16º57´12”W, 488 m, 5-XII-2009: four colonies, without gonothecae .

MAURIT-0911, stn MUDR02 , 16º08´50”N, 16º57´01”W, 462 m, 5-XII-2009: two colonies, no gonothecae .

MAURIT-1011, stn MUDR10 , 19º50´01”N, 17º37´03”W, 520 m, 22-XI-2010: one colony 30 mm high, with gonothecae .

MAURIT-1011, stn MUDR20 , 16º08´11”N, 16º56´08”W, 405 m, 7-XII-2010: five colonies 18–30 mm high, three of them growing on Lophelia pertusa ; one colony with gonothecae .

MAURIT-1011, stn MUDR21 , 16º28´13”N, 16º51´43”W, 522 m, 9-XII-2010: one fragmented colony, without gonothecae .

MSM 16 /3, stn GeoB 14796–5, ROV, 20°14.823’N, 17°40.178’W, 613 m, 3-XI-2010: two colonies 30 and 33 mm high, with gonothecae .

MSM 16 /3, stn GeoB 14871–2, ROV, 19°08.344’– 19°08.235’N, 16°45.849’– 16°45.664’W, 427–566 m, 9-XI- 2010: two colonies 35 and 56 mm high, one growing on Lophelia pertusa , no gonothecae .

MSM 16/3, stn GeoB 14886–1, ROV, 18°39.013’– 18°38.476’N, 16°43.580’– 16°43.757’W, 484–640 m, 12- XI-2010: two colonies 8 and 17 mm high, one colony on Acesta excavata and another one on Madrepora oculata ; no gonothecae.

MSM 16 /3, stn GeoB 14903–1, GKG, 17°32.853’N, 16°39.700’W, 414 m, 15-XI-2010: one colony 22 mm high, growing on a sponge, without gonothecae .

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: five colonies 11–73 mm high, on Lophelia pertusa ; two colonies with gonothecae .

MSM 16 /3, stn GeoB 14914–1, ROV, 17°08.203’– 17°07.898’N, 16°49.478’– 16°48.878’W, 417–514 m, 17-XI- 2010: six colonies 20–55 mm high, on Acesta excavata , four of them with gonothecae .

Biology. This species has been found growing on a great variety of substrata, such as stones, sponges, the hydroid Lytocarpia myriophyllum , worm tubes, gorgonians, old antipatharian axis, coral fragments, bryozoans, shell fragments and ascidians ( Ramil & Vervoort 1992; Medel & Vervoort 1998; Vervoort 2006). This species was also reported anchoring directly on soft-bottom ( Gil & Ramil 2017a). Fertile material has been found in March, April and between June and December ( Teissier 1965; Ramil & Vervoort 1992; Ramil et al. 1992; Medel & Vervoort 1998).

Our colonies were found growing on different hydroid species, the scleractinian corals L. pertusa and M. oculata , sponges and the bivalve A. excavata . Some colonies were collected with gonothecae in November and December.

Distribution. This species has a wide distribution in the Atlantic, from Spitzbergen to Gough Island, including the Mediterranean Sea [ Ramil & Vervoort 1992, as Sertularella gayi gayi (Lamourux, 1821) ]. In West Africa, it was collected from Morocco ( Billard 1906a; Patriti 1970; Ramil & Vervoort 1992, as S. gayi gayi ), Mauritania ( Billard 1906a, as S. gayi gayi ; Billard 1931; Medel & Vervoort 1998, as S. gayi gayi ; Gil & Ramil 2017a, as S. gayi gayi ), Cape Verde Islands ( Rees & Thursfield 1965; Medel & Vervoort 1998, Vervoort 2006, last both as S. gayi gayi ), Guinea-Bissau ( Gili et al. 1989), Senegal (Vervoort 1959), Ivory Coast (Vervoort 1959; Redier 1965), Ghana ( Buchanan 1957, as S. gayi gayi ), Congo (Vervoort 1966, as S. gayi gayi ) and Angola ( Gili et al. 1989). The bathymetrical distribution ranges from 9 (Ramil et al. 1992) to 1200 m ( Ramil & Vervoort 1992, as S. gayi gayi ).

Our material was collected from depths of 405 to 640 m.

Remarks. The colonies from stations GeoB 14796–5 and GeoB 14908–1 have a lot of female gonothecae between 2000 and 3000 µm in length (fig. 3C–D). In the gonothecae, we could observe two ‘lips’ flanking the apical aperture, which is characteristic of S. gayi .

We observed some variations in the ramification pattern of a colony from station GeoB 14914–1. In the basal part of the colony, three consecutive branches separated from each other by only one hydrotheca were found. In the proximal part, we found two hydrothecae between consecutive branches; however, in the distal part, the colony showed the typical ramification of S. gayi (see Ramil & Vervoort 1992, as S. gayi gayi ).

Figures

FIGURE 3. A, Bedotella armata (Pictet & Bedot, 1900) (stn MUDR01), part of colony with two renovated hydrothecae and nematothecae. B–D, Sertularella gayi (Lamouroux, 1821) (stn GeoB 14908–1): B, part of lateral branch. C–D, gonothecae, lateral view. E, Sertularella porcupine nom. nov. (stn MUDR01), hydrocladium with hydrothecae and gonotheca. F, Halopteris catharina (Johnston, 1833) (stn GeoB 14796–1), part of hydrocladium. Scales: a–e, 1 mm; f, 0.5 mm.