(No common name)

ORDER

Physonectae

FAMILY

Apolemiidae

TAXONOMY

Stephanomia uviformis Lesueur, 1811, Nice (France).

OTHER COMMON NAMES

French: Stéphanomie pamproide, stèphanomie à, grains de raisins.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Pneumatophore bulb shaped, widening near the apex. Extended colonies are up to 32.8–98.4 ft (10–30 m). Nectosome with up to 12 nectophores in two parallel rows on the stem; largest is 0.14 in (3.7 mm) high by 0.13 in (3.4 mm) wide by 0.16 in (4.2 mm) deep. Nectophore consisting of two wings looking like those of a butterfly, with a deep ventral furrow. Nectosac large. Lateral radial canals form S-shaped bends with short branches on the upper bend. Groups of five or six nectosomal tentacles issuing from the base of the nectophores near the pedicular canal, at the base of the muscular lamellae. Siphosome measuring up to several feet (meters) in length, composed of several cormidia. Each cormidium consists of a gastrozooid and about 50 palpons, both with thin filiform tentacles of a single type issuing from their bases. Palpons are very long and delicate. Opaque spots bearing cnidocysts on the outer surface cover bracts, like the nectophores. Only physonect siphonophore whose nectophores are separated from each other by a cluster of 5–6 nectosomal tentacles.

DISTRIBUTION

The Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean. (Specific distribution map not available.)

HABITAT

Occurs in the top 328 ft (100 m) of water.

BEHAVIOR

Epiplanktonic.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Feeds on other planktonic organisms such as crustaceans, polychaetes, mollusks, tunicates, and even small fishes.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Dioecious, release their sexual cells in the sea, development through siphonula larvae.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Not listed by the IUCN.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS

None known.