Clytia cf. gracilis (M. Sars, 1850)

Estrada-González, Mariae C., Agüero, José & Mendoza-Becerril, María A., 2023, Medusozoans from the Mexican Pacific: a review based on historical literature and recent observations, Journal of Natural History 57 (1), pp. 784-853 : 831

Clytia cf. gracilis (M. Sars, 1850)

( Figure 8A )

Material examined

1 colony, polyp, without gonophores; Punta Diablo, La Paz Bay , Baja California Sur, 24.316° N, 110.340°W; depth 9.75 m; 14 September 2017; on barnacles; ECO-CH-Z 11758 . – 1 colony, polyp, without gonophores; Punta Diablo, La Paz Bay , Baja California Sur, 24.316° N, 110.340°W; depth 9.75 m; 14 September 2017; on rock; ECO-CH-Z 11761 ; – 1 colony, polyp, without gonophores; Punta Los Muertos, Baja California Sur, 24.248°N, 110.150°W; depth 1–2 m; 20 July 2018; on undetermined algae; ECO-CH-Z 11771 .

Identification (after Calder 1991)

Colonies occasionally erect but mostly stolonal; hydrocaulus monosiphonic, unbranched or irregularly branched, each branch arising from a short curved apophysis. Pedicels annulated basally and distally and smooth in the middle. Hydrothecae cone-shaped, convex above the diaphragm, nearly straight elsewhere. Hydrothecal diaphragm straight, margin with 12–14 blunt, triangular cusps, slightly tilted.

Distribution

Previously recorded on the west coast of the Gulf of California ( Fraser 1938b, 1948; Mendoza-Becerril et al. 2020) and for the rest of the gulf in Sonora and Nayarit ( Fraser 1938a, 1948). In the MP, have been recorded from Baja California Sur, Colima, Guerrero, Jalisco, and Oaxaca ( Fraser 1938a, 1938b, 1938c, 1948; Salcedo-Martínez et al. 1988; Humara-Gil and Cruz-Gómez 2018).

Remarks

The specimens conform to the description of C. gracilis made by Calder (1991), except that the hydrotheca is short and that the cusps are not so inclined, characteristics previously described for MP specimens ( Humara-Gil and Cruz-Gómez 2018; Mendoza-Becerril et al. 2020). In this work, we adopted the name C. cf. gracilis because C. gracilis currently constitutes a complex of species with high morphological variation, and detailed studies on diagnostic characters, life cycles, and molecular data for the different recognised lineages are required ( Cunha et al. 2017, 2020).

Figures

Figure 8. A, Clytia cf. gracilis (M. Sars, 1850): hydrotheca. B, Clytia hemisphaerica (Linnaeus, 1767): hydrotheca. (C, D) Clytia linearis (Thornely, 1900): C, colony; D, hydrotheca. (E–G) Obelia dichotoma (Linnaeus, 1758): B, hydrothecae; C, colony; D, gonothecae from apophysis; E, gonothecae from hydrorhiza. Scale bars: A, B, D = 250 μm; C = 1 cm; F, G = 200 μm; E = 500 μm. Drawings made by Nicholas Bezio.