Porpita porpita (Linnaeus, 1758)

(Figure 5D)

Material examined

2 colonies, gonozooids not seen; El Candelero Beach, Espíritu Santo Archipelago, Baja California Sur, 24.497°N, 110.392°W; water surface; 1 April 2017; photograph . – 1 colony, gonozooids not seen; Bay of Dreams, Baja California Sur, 23.992°N, 109.830°W; water surface; 10 April 2021; ECO-CH-Z 11793 . Caleta de Campos, Michoacán, 18.074°N, 102.749W; stranded; 22 December 2022; photograph .

Identification (after Calder 1988; Schuchert 2010)

Pleustonic hydroids, with disc-shaped mantle, and internal float. Mantle and float slightly convex, with a central pore and numerous stigmata. Undersurface with a single central gastrozooid. Dactylozooids with a distal whorl of capitate tentacles, mouth lacking.

Distribution

Previously recorded in the Gulf of California (Dunn et al. 2005). In the MP, recorded from the states of Nayarit (Bigelow 1911) and Michoacán (Gamero-Mora et al. 2015).