Pegea confoederata (Forskål, 1775)

Salpa confoederata Forskål 1775: 115 .

Salpa octofora Cuvier 1804: 579, Fig. 7.

Salpa scutigera Cuvier 1804: 577, Figs. 4, 5.

Salpa quadrata Herdman 1888: 84, Pl. 9 Figs. 1 –8.

Salpa dolium Quoy & Gaimard 1834: 575, Pl. 90 Figs. 1 –8.

Pegea confoederata: Tokioka 1960: 396 . Van Soest 1974a: 171, Fig. 15a; 1998: 235, Table 14.1. Madin & Harbison 1978: 338, Fig. 3C, F. Godeaux 1998: 288, 290, Figs. 17.16d, 17.20a. Gershwin et al. 2014: 16. Kim et al. 2017: 455, Fig. 1C. Purushothaman et al. 2017. Ishak et al. 2018: 473, Table 1.

Material examined. Nineteen aggregate zooids (MDAFWU 2017 /479–496, 524), St.62, October to December 2017., 1 embryo and 5 aggregate zooids (MDAFWU 2017 /473–478), St.81, July and September 2017., 1 aggregate zooid (MDAFWU 2017 /472), St.133, June 2017., 8 solitary zooids and 19 aggregate zooids (MDAFWU 2017 /497– 523), St.170, November 2017., 2 embryos and 13 aggregate zooids (MDAFWU 2019 /120–134), St.205, December 2019 (Fig. 3A–D) .

Description. Solitary zooid: Transparent body 18–60 mm long, with the pear-shaped test, smaller posteriorly (Fig. 3D). Both anterior and posterior terminal regions are thinner than the stomach region. Anterior muscle pair (M I–II) slightly touch forming a cross; posterior pair (M III–IV) do not touch each other; 18–32 muscle fibres per single band. The nucleus (stomach + intestine) is flatly encircled by the developing stolon.

Aggregate zooid: Transparent body 19–55 mm long, with a cylindrical-shaped, thick, smooth test (Fig. 3A, C). The posterior terminal region is very thick, extended around the nucleus; no posterior projections or protuberances. Both muscle-band pairs (M I–II and M III–IV) are short because they are interrupted before reaching the mid-lateral region, and are linking (anterior pair slightly touching and posterior pair fused) in the mid-dorsally forming two crosses; 6–20 muscle fibres per single band. Nucleus (stomach + intestine) is spherical. Embryo 5–19 mm in length (Fig. 3B).

Global distribution. The Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Australian waters, the Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea (Van Soest 1998). Type locality: Eastern Mediterranean .