Biodiversity & Conservation

A hydroid - Cordylophora caspia - General information

Cordylophora caspia

Image Keith Hiscock - Underwater, close-up view of Cordylophora caspia. Image width ca 5 cm.
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Distribution map

Cordylophora caspia recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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Cordylophora caspia is not listed under any importance categories.

General information

Key Icon Researched by: Dr Harvey Tyler-Walters and Paolo Pizzolla Text page icon Refereed by: This information is not refereed.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy

Phylum Cnidaria Sea anemones, corals, sea firs & jellyfish
Class Hydroidomedusa
Map icon Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland The species has a sporadic distribution associated with areas of low salinity within estuaries and brackish lagoons.
Habitat information icon Habitat information This hydroid colonizes brackish waters of 2 -12 psu but, where salinity may rise, occasionally up to 35 psu. It is found in shallow depths, often in shade, on various hard substrata, submerged vegetation, and the shells of crabs and snails.
Text page icon Description A tall erect colony growing up to 10 cm high, branching occasionally from alternate sides and light horn to light brown in colour. Each branch is ringed at the base and has a terminal polyp. The polyps are white to pale pink and have 12 -16 long, colourless, extensile tentacles arranged irregularly on the surface of the polyp. The mouth is born on a conical but truncated proboscis. Each branch bears one to three pear-shaped reproductive bodies on short stalks. It produces a planula larvae but no free-living medusoid stage.

This review can be cited as follows:

Dr Harvey Tyler-Walters and Paolo Pizzolla 2007. Cordylophora caspia. A hydroid. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 04/02/2012]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=3044>