User:LasseØ/Halammohydrida octopodides

Morphology
This small hydra (>0,4mm) has an elongated abdomen, which in the anterior end has a simple mouth opening and in the posterior end sits a reduced medusa bell. The body carries two rows of long tentacles and a circuit of lithocyst. The entire animal is covered in cilia and the gonads are contained in the abdominal wall. Three species are known, octopodides, vermiformis and schulzei*. Octopoides has no more than 14 tentacles, 7 lithocysts and no thickenings in the tentacles.

Ecology
Marine meiobentic polyps.

The genus Halammohydra provides a good example of organization with marked adaptation to the biological demands of the interstitial environment (the space between the particles that make up the seafloor). The adult individual has morphological specialization mixed with larval features.

Distribution: Found in European waters, Gulf of maine, Mediterranean sea, north west atlantic, pea point, British isles, Coast of France. Semi-cosmopolitan.