Plotocnide incerta ( Linko, 1900 )

Buecher, Emmanuelle, Goy, Jacqueline, J, Mark & Gibbons, 2005, Hydromedusae of the Agulhas Current, African Invertebrates 46, pp. 27-69 : 50

Plotocnide incerta ( Linko, 1900)

(Syndiction?) incertum: Linko 1900: 151, fig. 1.

Plotocnide incerta: Kramp 1959 a: 91 , fig. 46; 1961: 45.

Description: Single specimen. Bell-shaped umbrella, slightly taller than broad, with indistinct apical projection, broad, rounded; 1.5 mm in height. Exumbrella surface smooth, with irregularly scattered cnidocysts. Mesoglea thick. Velum broad. Peripheral canal and four narrow radial canals present, latter with smooth margin; with neither centripetal nor apical canals. With four perradial marginal tentacles arising from conspicuous bulbs on umbrella margin. Tentacles of similar size, short, typically coiled, solid, unbranched, filiform. Manubrium flask-shaped, occasionally extending beyond velum, not connected to radial canals by mesenteries. Mouth simple, circular, without lips; on pronounced gastric peduncle. Without ocelli on bulb of marginal tentacles. Gonads simple, entirely encircling manubrium for much of length.

Material examined: H5045.

Comments: The systematic position of this genus is unresolved, and the generic identity of this particular species is still questioned (Bouillon & Boero 2000 b). Unfortunately, the single specimen collected here cannot contribute to the debate.

Distribution: Boreal cold temperate and polar waters of Atlantic and Pacific oceans. This is the first record from the Indian Ocean and the southern Hemisphere. Neritic.