Ventromma halecioides (Alder, 1859)

(Figure 7A, B)

Material examined

3 colonies, polyp, with gonophores; Agua de Yepiz, La Paz Bay, Baja California Sur, 24.288° N, 110.630°W; depth 0–1 m; 24 June 2018; on the algae Hypnea sp., Laurencia sp., and Sargassum sp.; ECO-CH-Z 11789. – Several colonies, polyp, without gonophores; Punta Los Muertos, Baja California Sur, 24.248°N, 110.150°W; depth 1–2 m; 20 July 2018; on the algae Centroceras gasparrinii, Laurencia pacifica, Padina mexicana, and Sargassum sp.; ECO-CH-Z 11770.

Identification (after Calder 1997)

Colonies erect; hydrocaulus monosiphonic, alternately branched, divided into internodes by transverse nodes. Internodes slightly curved, each one supporting a distal hydrocladial apophysis and one axillary nematotheca. Hydrocladia unbranched, divided into athecate and thecate internodes by slightly oblique nodes; athecate internodes short, one at the base of hydrocladia and occasionally elsewhere; thecate internodes large, each one with a hydrotheca, and two nematothecae, one median inferior and the other superior. Hydrotheca cup-shaped, margin entire. Hydranth exposed and larger than hydrotheca.

Distribution

Previously recorded in the western Gulf of California, Baja California Sur (Mendoza-Becerril et al. 2020). In the MP, it has been recorded from Baja California (Fraser 1948) and Oaxaca (Humara and Cruz-Gómez 2018).