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Dieren en planten

Cnidarians   Polyps   Sea thread hydroid   Marine fauna   Fauna of the sea floor   Communities   Ringed tubularia   Clapper hydromedusa   

Sea thread hydroid

size:

around 50 centimeters

color:

dark brown trunk, light to colorless branches

food:

plankton

enemies:

sea slug Eubranchus exiguus

reproduction:

sexual and vegetative

  • Dut: Lange zeedraad
  • Lat: Obelia dichotoma
  • Eng: Sea thread hydroid, bushy wine-glass hydroid
  • Ger: Laomedea
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Sea thread hydroid, Erik van Ommen
photo medusen from: http://rydberg.biology.colostate.edu/

Sea thread hydroid

The sea thread hydroid is a colony-forming polyp. The colonies can be recognized by their long, limp, strongly branched, horny threads. Small polyps are located at the end of the branches. This species can wash ashore in massive amounts, particularly in the autumn. Another name for the sea thread hydroid is the bushy wine-glass hydroid. In Dutch, this animal has the nickname 'ape hair'. Some people say that the hair comes from mermaids.

  • Medusae

    In the summer, thin flat medusae appear which have separated from the colony. When these medusae are around 1 centimeter, they produce eggs from which new polyp colonies form.

  • Distribution and habitat

    The sea thread hydroid is a common species in the North Sea and Wadden Sea. It attaches itself to animals, plants and stones from the low-tide waterline down to around a depth of 100 meters.