Development From Polyp to Stauromedusa in<i>Stylocoronella</i>(Cnidaria: Scyphozoa)

Abstract

Within the interstitial Cnidaria, the Hydrozoa dominate, with ten mesopsammic genera (living in the interstitial water of sandy bottoms), while the Anthozoa and Scyphozoa are represented by one genus each (Clausen &amp; Salvini-Plawen, 1986; Bouillon &amp; Grohmann, 1990). The only mesopsammic scyphozoans described so far are the small solitary polyps of the genus Stylocoronella , which is represented by two species, S. riedli (Salvini-Plawen, 1966) and S. variabilis (Salvini-Plawen, 1987). Little information is available on reproduction and nothing is known about the life-cycle of these interstitial scyphopolyps. By establishing a culture of the two Stylocoronella species, their development into undescribed stauromedusae could be observed for the first time