Nemertesia ramosa
Creators: name: Gil, Marta
name: Ramil, Fran
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Cnidaria
Hydrozoa
Leptothecata
Plumulariidae
Nemertesia
Nemertesia ramosa

description: Nemertesia ramosa (Lamarck, 1816)
Antennularia ramosa Lamarck, 1816: 123.
Nemertesia ramosa: Ramil & Vervoort, 1992a: 173–176, fig. 44A–F.— Cornelius, 1995b: 155–156, fig. 36.— Ansín Agís et al., 2001: 215–222, fig. 83–84.— Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa, 2002: 115–117, fig. 22D–F.— Gravili et al., 2015: 125–126, fig. 89A–E.
Material examined. BISSAU-0810, stn BS147, 11º08'35"– 11º08'27"N, 17º11'31"– 17º10'37"W, 186–306 m, 26-X-2008: two colonies (one with gonothecae), 80–98 mm high, of which one growing on a worm tube.
BISSAU-0810, stn BS151, 11º05'09"– 11º04'15"N, 17º03'15"– 17º03'10"W, 46–47 m, 26-X-2008: one colony without gonothecae, 105 mm high, substrate unknown.
BISSAU-0810, stn BS152, 10º31'12"– 10º30'19"N, 17º12'34"– 17º12'32"W, 300–305 m, 27-X-2008: five colonies without gonothecae, 63–175 mm high, substrate unknown.
BISSAU-0810, stn BS157, 10º19'36"– 10º18'44"N, 17º10'29"– 17º10'12"W, 304–308 m, 28-X-2008: six colonies without gonothecae, 90–320 mm high, of which one growing on a worm tube.
BISSAU-0810, stn BS174, 10º01'42"– 10º02'16"N, 17º00'52"– 17º01'35"W, 419 m, 31-X-2008: one colony without gonothecae, 235 mm high, growing on a worm tube.
BISSAU-0810, stn BS195, 10º22'44"– 10º23'22"N, 16º15'37"– 16º16'18"W, 29 m, 3-XI-2008: one colony without gonothecae, 49 mm high, substrate unknown.
BISSAU-0810, stn BS199, 10º16'49"– 10º17'29"N, 16º22'15"– 16º22'49"W, 65–70 m, 4-XI-2008: 13 colonies (some with gonothecae), 110–206 mm high, substrate unknown.
BISSAU-0810, stn BS200, 10º18'55"N, 16º25'07"W, 79 m, 4-XI-2008: two colonies without gonothecae, 74– 119 mm high, substrate unknown.
BISSAU-0810, stn BS216, 10º30'53"– 10º31'39"N, 16º31'33"– 16º32'02"W, 56–58 m, 7-XI-2008: four colonies without gonothecae, 90–170 mm high, substrate unknown.
CCLME-1110, stn BT40, 10º15'45"– 10º14'39"N, 16º55'17"– 16º54'05"W, 224 m, 27-X-2011: one colony without gonothecae, 15 mm high, substrate unknown.
CCLME-1110, stn BT49, 10º57'13"– 10º58'26"N, 16º59'29"– 17º00'29"W, 62 m, 29-X-2011: one colony without gonothecae, 14 mm high, growing on a polychaete tube.
Remarks. Nemertesia ramosa is a well-known species in the East Atlantic and does not require further comments.
Biology. Nemertesia ramosa has been mainly collected from non-living hard substrates, but also as an epizoite of other hydroids, anthozoans, bivalves, decapod crustaceans, as well as growing directly on muddy bottoms (Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002; Gravili et al. 2015). In the northern hemisphere, fertile material has been collected from January to October and December (Ansín Agís et al. 2001; Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002), while in the southern hemisphere, gonothecae were observed in September (Millard, 1957).
In our material, some colonies were found growing on worm tubes. Gonothecae were observed in October and November.
Distribution. East Atlantic species distributed from Iceland and Norway to South Africa (Calder 2012). In West Africa, it has been recorded from Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Gambia, the Cape Verde Archipelago, Guinea-Bissau, the Republic of Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Ghana and Namibia (Ansín Agís et al. 2001). Its bathymetric distribution ranges from 3 to 1425 m (Ansín Agís et al. 2001; Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002).
Our material was collected at depths between 29–308 m.
description: Published as part of Gil, Marta & Ramil, Fran, 2025, Hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from Guinea Bissau, pp. 1-89 in Zootaxa 5577 (1) on page 68, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5577.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/14763362