Hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from marine environments in Taiwan

Li-Chun Tseng,Jiang-Shiou Hwang,Cheng-Han Wu,Wen-Hung Twan,Zhi-Can Tang

doi:10.1186/s40555-014-0029-z

Li-Chun Tseng, Jiang-Shiou Hwang + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40555-014-0029-z

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Abstract

AbstractBackgroundHydroids were identified from extensive surveys of benthos, and especially from worm tubes, in the Danshuei River estuary (DRE), in the northeast Taiwan Strait (NETS), and on a reef in Nanwan Bay (NWB), Taiwan.ResultsA total of 33 species (12 of them identified to generic and 1 to family rank only), referable to 22 genera, 12 families, and 2 orders, were distinguished. The majority of them were referable to order Leptothecata (84.8%) with the remainder being assigned to order Anthoathecata (15.2%). The only species found at NETS wasMonoserius pennarius(Linnaeus, 1758).Plumularia habereri(Stechow, 1909) was recorded at both DRE and NWB. The known range ofDynamena nanshaensis(Tang, 1991), recorded for the second time, is extended further north. Six species (Aglaophenia latecarinata,Plumularia floridana,Diphasia palmata,Dynamena brevis,Dynamena obliqua,Synthecium elegans) are recorded for the first time in waters adjacent to the Chinese mainland.ConclusionsSpecies composition and abundances varied considerably from one environment to another and especially between DRE and NWB. This study provides the first taxonomic account of the hydroid fauna inhabiting the eastern Taiwan Strait region.

Highlights

Hydroids were identified from extensive surveys of benthos, and especially from worm tubes, in the Danshuei River estuary (DRE), in the northeast Taiwan Strait (NETS), and on a reef in Nanwan Bay (NWB), Taiwan
At NWB, hydroid sampling on a coral reef was undertaken at 12 to 15 m depth using self-contained underwater with breathing apparatus (SCUBA) and at 100 m depth using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV)
A total of 24 worm tube specimens collected at the coral reef site by SCUBA diving, and two additional ones using the ROV, were examined for hydroid associates

Summary

Introduction

Hydroids were identified from extensive surveys of benthos, and especially from worm tubes, in the Danshuei River estuary (DRE), in the northeast Taiwan Strait (NETS), and on a reef in Nanwan Bay (NWB), Taiwan. Hydroids are largely sessile epibenthic cnidarians that inhabit all marine habitats from shallow to abyssal waters (Vervoort 1966). Except for the well-known association between proboscidactylid polyps and sabellid polychaetes (Schuchert 2009), relatively, little attention has been given to worm tubes as substrates for hydroids. Several studies on hydroids from temperate and tropical waters of the northwest Pacific have been carried out over the past few decades.

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