Cytaeis spp.

Buecher, Emmanuelle, Goy, Jacqueline, J, Mark & Gibbons, 2005, Hydromedusae of the Agulhas Current, African Invertebrates 46, pp. 27-69 : 39-40

Cytaeis spp. Cytaeis: Eschscholtz 1829: 104 ; Kramp 1961: 63; 1968: 26, fig. 64. Description: 65 specimens from 27 stations. Bell-shaped umbrella, slightly broader than tall; up to 4 mm in diameter. Exumbrella surface smooth. Mesoglea tough. Velum narrow. Peripheral canal and four radial canals present; no centripetal canals. Four tentacles, each arising from pronounced pyriform bulb on umbrella surface opposite radial canal (perradial), stout, long(ish), solid. Secondary tentacles absent. Manubrium bulbous, pronounced. Mouth simple, circular, with short gastric peduncle; bearing 8– 12 unbranched oral tentacles that arise at level of mouth rim. Oral tentacles small, with terminal cnidocyst clusters. Gonads interradial.

Material examined: H5013, H5014.

Comments: With the exception of C. adherens Bouillon, Boero and Seghers, 1991 , all other species of Cytaeis medusae are considered indistinguishable (Bouillon & Boero 2000 b). Given the meroplanktic nature of the genus, we should be cautious in interpreting any distribution of Cytaeis medusae as cosmopolitan, because crypsis is highly likely.

Distribution: Widespread in tropical and subtropical waters. Previously recovered from Mauritius ( Vanhöffen 1911) and in the Mozambique Channel (Kramp 1965; Bouillon 1978 b) as well as along the east coast of South Africa ( Millard 1975). Neritic.