Vannuccia forbesii ( Mayer, 1894 )

Buecher, Emmanuelle, Goy, Jacqueline, J, Mark & Gibbons, 2005, Hydromedusae of the Agulhas Current, African Invertebrates 46, pp. 27-69 : 47

Vannuccia forbesii ( Mayer, 1894)

Hybocodon forbesi: Mayer 1894: 236 , pl. 1, fig. 1; Kramp 1961: 42; 1968: 13, fig. 22.

Vannuccia forbesii: Brinkmann-Voss 1967: 263 .

Description: Seven immature specimens from six stations. Ellipsoidal umbrella, slightly taller than broad, without apical projection; up to 2.3 mm in height. Umbrella margin slightly oblique.Exumbrella surface smooth; without cnidocyst tracks.Mesoglea thin.Velum narrow. Peripheral canal and four narrow radial canals present, latter with smooth margin; with neither centripetal nor apical canals. With four perradial marginal bulbs, small and rudimentary.Single tentacle,long, stout, hollow proximally,unbranched,with large terminal cnidocyst swelling. Manubrium swollen, spindle-shaped, occasionally extending beyond velum, not connected to radial canals by mesenteries. Mouth simple, circular, without lips; on short gastric peduncle.Without statocysts. Without ocelli on bulb of marginal tentacles. When mature, simple gonads entirely encircling manubrium for much of length.

Material examined: H5034, H5035.

Comments: One of two recognised species (Bouillon & Boero 2000 b); the other being restricted to the east tropical Pacific Ocean ( Vargas-Hernandez & Ochoa-Figuera 1991).

Distribution: World-wide in tropical and warm temperate waters. Previously recorded from around the Seychelles and in the Mozambique Channel (Bouillon 1978 b). Neritic.