Candelabrum tentaculatum

Candelabrum tentaculatum, also called the dreadlocks hydroid or calamari hydroid, is a sessile marine hydroid, that is found off the Cape Peninsula of South Africa.[1][2]

Candelabrum tentaculatum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Hydrozoa
Order: Anthoathecata
Family: Candelabridae
Genus: Candelabrum
Species:
C. tentaculatum
Binomial name
Candelabrum tentaculatum
Millard, 1966)
Synonyms
  • Myriothela tentaculata Millard 1966.

Description

Naked cylindrical hydranth up to about 70mm long, covered by densely packed short capitate tentacles. Basal part carries a single whorl of about 17 long unbranched blastostyles, with gonophores near the hydranth.[1]

Species range

Endemic to South Africa, known only from the Cape Peninsula[1][2] and Port Elizabeth in 10 to 30 m of water.[2]

Identification

Pale off-white slightly tapering cylindrical certral part with rounded tip, covered with very short rounded tentacles. The base has a ring of long floppy reddish tentacles that drape over the substrate.

  • Small group off Clifton, Cape Town.
  • Large group off Oudekraal, Cape Town.
  • Candelabrum tentaculatum on Laminopora jellyae, off Hout Bay, Cape Town.


Natural history

Often found on pore-plated false corals Laminopora jellyae.[2]

References
  1. Millard, N.A.H. 1975. Monograph on the Hydroida of Southern Africa. Ann. S. Afr. Mus. 68:1-513
  2. Jones, Georgina. (2008), Marine animals of the Cape Peninsula Southern Underwater Research Group Press, Cape Town. ISBN 978-0-620-41639-9
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