Candelabrum tentaculatum

Candelabrum tentaculatum
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Cnidaria
Class:	Hydrozoa
Order:	Anthoathecata
Family:	Candelabridae
Genus:	Candelabrum
Species:	C. tentaculatum
Binomial name
Candelabrum tentaculatum Millard, 1966)
Synonyms
Myriothela tentaculata Millard 1966.

Candelabrum tentaculatum, also called the dreadlocks hydroid or calamari hydroid, is a sessile marine hydroid, that is found off the Cape Peninsula of South Africa.^[1][2]

Description

Naked cylindrical hydranth up to about 70mm long, covered by densely packed short capitate tentacles. Basal part carries a single whorl of about 17 long unbranched blastostyles, with gonophores near the hydranth.^[1]

Species range

Endemic to South Africa, known only from the Cape Peninsula^[1][2] and Port Elizabeth in 10 to 30 m of water.^[2]

Identification

Pale off-white slightly tapering cylindrical central part with rounded tip, covered with very short rounded tentacles. The base has a ring of long floppy reddish tentacles that drape over the substrate.

• 
  Small group off Clifton, Cape Town.
• 
  Large group off Oudekraal, Cape Town.
• 
  Candelabrum tentaculatum on Laminopora jellyae, off Hout Bay, Cape Town.

Natural history

Often found on pore-plated false corals Laminopora jellyae.^[2]

References

1. Millard, N.A.H. 1975. Monograph on the Hydroida of Southern Africa. Ann. S. Afr. Mus. 68:1-513
2. Jones, Georgina. (2008), Marine animals of the Cape Peninsula Southern Underwater Research Group Press, Cape Town. ISBN 978-0-620-41639-9