Sertularella gayi
Creators: name: Gil, Marta
name: Ramil, Fran
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Cnidaria
Hydrozoa
Leptothecata
Sertularellidae
Sertularella
Sertularella gayi

description: Sertularella gayi (Lamouroux, 1821)
Sertularella gayi Lamouroux, 1821: 12–13, pl. 66 figs 8–9.— Billard, 1906a: 73.— Billard, 1906b: 184–185, fig. 9.— Billard, 1931b: 675.— Buchanan, 1957:366.— Vervoort, 1959: 273–275, figs 33B–C, 34B.— Redier, 1965: 373.— Rees &Thursfield, 1965: 134.— Vervoort, 1966: 127–128, fig. 30.— Patriti, 1970: 37–38, fig. 48.— Gili et al., 1989: 102–103, fig. 27.
Sertularella gayi gayi: Ramil & Vervoort, 1992a: 219–222, fig. 61a–e.— Medel & Vervoort, 1998: 40–45, fig. 10–11.— Vervoort, 2006: 267.
Material examined. BISSAU-0810, stn BS133, 11º29'17"– 11º28'26"N, 17º15'14"– 17º15'14"W, 733–737 m, 23-X-2008: two colonies without gonothecae, growing on worm tubes.
BISSAU-0810, stn BS142, 11º14'17"– 11º13'22"N, 17º13'07"– 17º13'12"W, 335–393 m, 25-X-2008: one colony 56 mm high, without gonothecae, substrate unknown.
BISSAU-0810, stn BS152, 10º31'12"– 10º30'19"N, 17º12'34"– 17º12'32"W, 300–305 m, 27-X-2008: 16 colonies without gonothecae, 7–50 mm high, of which two growing on Lytocarpia myriophyllum.
BISSAU-0810, stn BS157, 10º19'36"– 10º18'44"N, 17º10'29"– 17º10'12"W, 304–308 m, 28-X-2008: 11 colonies 10–25 mm high, without gonothecae, of which three growing on worm tube.
BISSAU-0810, stn BS173, 10º04'52"– 10º04'17"N, 16º34'12"– 16º33'30"W, 277–278 m, 31-X-2008: one colony 30 mm high, without gonothecae, growing on Nemertesia ventriculiformis.
BISSAU-0810, stn BS200, 10º18'55"N, 16º25'07"W, 79 m, 4-XI-2008: one colony 140 mm high, with gonothecae; substrate unknown.
BISSAU-0810, stn BS216, 10º30'53"– 10º31'39"N, 16º31'33"– 16º32'02"W, 56–58 m, 7-XI-2008: six colonies 55–111 mm high, without gonothecae; substrate unknown.
CCLME-1110, stn BT54, 11º35'33"– 11º34'02"N, 17º18'01"– 17º17'50"W, 109–110 m, 30-X-2011: one colony 30 mm high, with gonothecae; substrate unknown.
Remarks. Sertularella gayi is a well-known species and no further discussion is necessary.
Biology. This species has been found growing on a great variety of invertebrates and other substrates (Gil et al. 2020). In the northern hemisphere, colonies with gonothecae have been reported in March, April and between June– December (Teissier 1965; Ramil & Vervoort 1992a; Ramil et al. 1992; Medel & Vervoort 1998; Gil et al. 2020).
Some of our colonies were found growing on L. myriphyllum, N. ventriculiformis and worm tubes. Gonothecae were observed in October and November.
Distribution. This is an Atlantic-Mediterranean species [Ramil & Vervoort 1992, as Sertularella gayi gayi (Lamourux, 1821)]. Its distribution in West Africa has been recently revised by Gil et al. (2020). Its bathymetrical distribution ranges from 9 (Ramil et al. 1992) to 1200 m (Ramil & Vervoort 1992a, as S. gayi gayi).
Our material was collected at depths between 56–737 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 pages 45-46, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5577.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/14763362