Biodiversity & Conservation

Oaten pipes hydroid - Tubularia indivisa

Tubularia indivisa

Image Sue Scott - Group of Tubularia indivisa on rock, St Kilda. Image width ca 15 cm.
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Distribution map

Tubularia indivisa 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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Tubularia indivisa is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Cnidaria Sea anemones, corals, sea firs & jellyfish
Class Hydroidomedusa
Authority Linnaeus (1758)
Recent synonyms None
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Widespread through Britain and Ireland.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Tubularia indivisa grows on various hard substrata in a wide range of water depths from rocks in the intertidal, or in shallow water near shore, and at great depths. It is particularly abundant on exposed to strong tidal currents.
Text page icon Description A large hydroid 10-15 cm in height with a solitary polyp. The polyp and tentacles have a diameter of about 1.5 cm. Stems are erect, clustered together and fuse with each other towards the base of the colony, which has a tough yellowish coloured natural outer layer. The polyps are conical or flask shaped and richly coloured with various shades of pink to red. The polyp looks flower-like and consists of a central circlet of about 40 oral tentacles surrounded by about 20-30 paler but larger aboral tentacles. Polyps are often present only in the spring and are eaten by nudibranchs leaving the stems.
Identifying features
  • Large polyps with an outer ring of aboral tentacles and an inner cluster of oral tentacles.
  • Single and unbranched stems arise from clustered mass at the base.
  • Stems are 10-15 cm in height.
  • Yellowish stems with pink to red polyps.
Additional information icon Additional information No text entered

This review can be cited as follows:

Rose Edwards 2008. Tubularia indivisa. Oaten pipes hydroid. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 20/05/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=4530>