Toxorchis polynema Kramp, 1959

Buecher, Emmanuelle, Goy, Jacqueline, J, Mark & Gibbons, 2005, Hydromedusae of the Agulhas Current, African Invertebrates 46, pp. 27-69 : 61

Toxorchis polynema Kramp, 1959

Toxorchis polynema: Kramp 1959 a: 34 , 141, pl. 1, fig. 13, pl. 2, fig. 4; 1961: 150; 1968: 70, fig. 186; Bouillon 1984: 74, fig. 21.

Description: Single specimen. Umbrella saucer-shaped, much broader than tall, without apical projection; 4.7 mm in diameter. Exumbrella surface smooth. Mesoglea thin. Velum narrow. Peripheral canal and four radial canals present; radial canals each bifurcating twice on manubrium, narrow, reaching to circular canal; without centripetal canals. With more than 200 marginal tentacles connected to peripheral canal, arising from small, slightly swollen bulbs on umbrella margin. Tentacles long, hollow, unbranched, filiform. Endoderm of tentacles extend inwards to mesoglea at margin. Margin without atentaculate swellings or warts; marginal cirri absent. Tentacle bulbs without abaxial spurs, without excretory papillae or pores; lateral cirri absent. Cordyli present, arranged irregularly between tentacles. Manubrium quadrate, flat, with broad cruciform base, without perradial lobes, not connected to radial canals by mesenteries. Mouth short, quadrate, with crenulated lips. Gastric peduncle absent. Without statocysts. With ocelli on some tentacular bulbs. Gonads broad and sinuous, extending along proximal length of subumbrella surface of radial canals.

Material examined: H5067.

Comments: Five species are recognised as valid by Bouillon and Boero (2000 b). These can be readily distinguished by the number of tentacles, cordyli and radial canals, and by the degree of branching of the radial canals.

Distribution: Worldwide in tropical and subtropical waters. Previously recorded from the east coast of Africa (Kramp 1965). Epi- and mesopelagic.