Obelia geniculata ( Linnaeus, 1758 )

Gil, Marta & Ramil, Fran, 2021, Hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from the Vema and Valdivia seamounts (SE Atlantic), European Journal of Taxonomy 758, pp. 49-96 : 66

Obelia geniculata ( Linnaeus, 1758)

Sertularia geniculata Linnaeus, 1758: 812 .

Laomedea geniculata – Broch 1914: 37.

Obelia geniculata – Millard 1975: 229–230, fig. 75a–b. — Cornelius 1995: 301–303, fig. 70. — Calder 2012: 50–51 , fig. 53.

Material examined

SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN •3 colonies, up to 5 mm high (all growing on brown algae, 2 colonies, with gonothecae); Vema Seamount, stn BT5; 31°37′16″– 31°36′58″ S, 8°22′37″– 8°23′06″ E; 71–94 m depth; 31 Jan. 2015; SEAFO-2015 leg.; SEAFO-2015-40317, SEAFO-2015-40327, SEAFO-2015-40768.

Distribution

Usually considered as a cosmopolitan species, with records from all oceans ( Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002), although absent from Antarctic waters (Peña Cantero 2004). In the Southeast Atlantic, it was recorded from Namibia ( Broch 1914, as Laomedea geniculata ( Linnaeus, 1758)) , Vema Seamount ( Millard 1966) and South Africa (Millard 1975). Its bathymetric distribution extends from the intertidal ( Cornelius 1995) to 381 m ( Gili et al. 1989).