Invasion History
First Galapagos Record: 2018General Invasion History:
Clytia delicatula was described from Blanche Bay on the island of New Britain, now part of Papua, New Guinea. It was later found on the Great Barrier Reef, South Australia, Japan, the South China Sea, and the Seychelles (Mayer 1910; Briggs and Gardner 1930; Millard and Bouillon 1973; Kubota 1978; Yan et al. 2009). This hydrozoan appears to have a wide native range in the Indo-West Pacific but was absent in the East Pacific.
Invasion History in the Galapagos:
In February and May 2018, Clytia delicatula was collected on docks and buoys on San Cristobal Island, and in the harbors of Salinas and La Libertad, on the mainland of Ecuador (Calder et al. 2021). Hull fouling and ballast water are likely mechanisms for the transport of the hydroid and medusa.
Invasion history elsewhere in the world:
Invasion history for Elsewhere in the World has not been summarized for this species at this time.
Description
Clytia delicatula is a hydrozoan, with inconspicuous hydroids (to 6 mm tall), and a more conspicuous medusa (to 10 mm). The colony consists of stalks (pedicels) arising from horizontal stolons. The pedicel has 3 or more series of rings at its base near its midpoint, and where it joins the hydrotheca. The hydrothecae are shaped like drinking glasses, with crenulated (scalloped) edges. The gonothecae are amphora shaped, oval, but with a flaring mouth. Gonophores, where medusa buds develop, usually arise directly from the stolon, but sometimes from the pedicel. Colonies reach a height of 6 mm (Briggs and Gardner 1931; Kubota 1979; Calder et al. 2021).
The mature medusa of Clytia delicatula forms a shallow dome, with four radial canals, and small X-shaped manubrium, with four folded lips, and four short lozenge-shaped gonads, located on the canals. There are twelve to sixteen marginal tentacles, and 24–35 small statocysts located around the margin. Mature medusae have an umbrella 8–10 mm across, and about 3–4mm high (Kubota 1978).
Taxonomy
Taxonomic Tree
| Kingdom: | Animalia | |
| Phylum: | Cnidaria | |
| Class: | Hydrozoa | |
| Subclass: | Hydroidolina | |
| Order: | Leptothecata | |
| Family: | Campanulariidae | |
| Genus: | Clytia | |
| Species: | delicatula |
Synonyms
Campanularia delicatula (Jaderholm, 1902)
Clytia delicatula (Stechow, 1913)
Potentially Misidentified Species
Clytia irregularis Fraser 1938, collected in Salinas Ecuador, Tropical Eastern Pacific (Calder et al. 2021)
Clytia noliformis
Clytia noliformis (McCrady 1859), tropical Atlantic, Eastern Pacific, Indo-Pacific, Eastern Pacific (Calder et al. 2021)
Clytia seriata
Ecology
General:
Clytia delicatula colonies grow as sessile polyps extending from a creeping stolon attached to a hard substrate. The stolons produce buds asexually, which break off as small, swimming medusae. The planktonic medusae feed on zooplankton. Rees' medusae were all male, the sexes appear to be separate between colonies (Rees 2000). Typically, planktonic medusae release eggs and sperm into the water column, which fuse to form ciliated planula larvae. The planula larvae settle on suitable substrate and develop into a hydroid (Barnes 1983).
The medusa of Clytia delicatula is known from marine waters in cold-temperate to tropical climates (Mayer 1910; Kubota 1978; Calder et al. 2021).
Food:
Zooplankton. Epibenthos
Consumers:
Nudibranchs
Trophic Status:
Suspension Feeder
SusFedHabitats
| General Habitat | Marinas & Docks | None |
| General Habitat | Rocky | None |
| General Habitat | Coral reef | None |
| Salinity Range | Euhaline | 30-40 PSU |
| Tidal Range | Subtidal | None |
| Vertical Habitat | Epibenthic | None |
| Vertical Habitat | Planktonic | None |
Life History
Tolerances and Life History Parameters
| Maximum Width (mm) | 10 | Medusa |
| Maximum Height (mm) | 6 | Hydroid |
| Broad Temperature Range | None | Warm Temperate-Tropical |
| Broad Salinity Range | None | Polyhaline-Euhaline |
General Impacts
Impacts are unknown
Regional Distribution Map
| Bioregion | Region Name | Year | Invasion Status | Population Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEP-Z | 2018 | Non-native | Established |
Occurrence Map
| OCC_ID | Author | Year | Date | Locality | Status | Latitude | Longitude |
|---|
References
Barnes, Robert D. (1983) Invertebrate Zoology, Saunders, Philadelphia. Pp. 883Briggs, E. A.: Gardern, Valerie (1931) Hydroida, In: (Eds.) Scientific Reports of the Great Barrier Reef Expedition 1928-29.. , London. Pp. 181-196
Calder, Dale R. and 8 authors (2021) Additions to the hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) of marine fouling communities on the mainland of Ecuador and in the Galapagos Islands, Aquatic Invasions 16: 208-252
Fraser, C. McLean (1938) Hydroids of the 1934 Allan Hancock Pacific expediton., Allan Hancock Pacific Expeditions 4(1): 1-106
Kubota, Shin (1978) Notes on Clytia and Phialjdjum (Hydrozoa; Campanulariidae) from Shimoda, Japan, Prccedings of the Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology 15: 2-7
Kubota, Shin (1979) Morphological notes on the polyp and medusa of Climacocodon ikarii Uchida (Hydrozoa, Margelopsidae) in Hokkaido, Journal of the Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Series VI 22(1): 122-139
Mayer, A. G. (1910) Medusae of the World., In: (Eds.) . , Washington, D.C.. Pp. 231, 276-278
Yan, T.; Yan, W. X. ; Dong, Y.; Wang, H. J.; Yan, Y.;Liang, G. H. (2009) Marine fouling on floating installations west of Dongsha Islands, the northern South China Sea, International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 63: 1079-103