Kirchenpaueria pinnata ( Linnaeus, 1758 )

Gil, Marta, Ramil, Fran & Agís, José Ansín, 2020, Hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from Mauritanian Coral Mounds, Zootaxa 4878 (3), pp. 412-466 : 436

Kirchenpaueria pinnata ( Linnaeus, 1758)

Kirchenpaueria pinnata: Ramil & Vervoort, 1992: 158–161 , fig. 41A–C; Ansín Agís et al., 2001: 183–188, fig. 74; Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa, 2002: 106–108, fig. 20A–C; Calder, 2012: 42–43 , fig. 42; Gravili et al., 2015: 108–110 , figs 77A–C.

Material examined. MSM 16 /3, stn GeoB 14802–1, 20°14.791’N, 17°40.188’W, 595 m, 3-XI-2010: one colony on Lophelia pertusa , without gonothecae .

Biology. This species has been reported to grow on a great variety of substrates, mainly on algae but also on rocks, seagrasses, bio-concretions and a wide range of invertebrates; fertile material has been found throughout the year ( Ansín Agís et al. 2001; Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002).

Our colony was growing on L. pertusa .

Distribution. Kirchenpaueria pinnata is widely distributed in the East Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea, with some isolated records in the West Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans; a detailed review of its geographical distribution was published by Ansín Agís et al. (2001). In West Africa, K. pinnata was collected from Morocco ( Patriti 1970, as Kirchenpaueria pinnata var. elegantula ), Canary Islands ( Izquierdo et al. 1986; Ansín Agís et al. 2001), Mauritania ( Gil & Ramil 2017a) and Gambia (Vervoort 1959, as Kirchenpaueria pinnata f. elegantula). Its bathymetric range extends from 0 to 769 m ( Ansín Agís et al. 2001; Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002).

The colony studied by us was collected from a depth of 595 m.

Remarks. Kirchenpaueria pinnata is a well-known species and does not require further comments.