Fauna of the Mediterranean Hydrozoa*
SCI. MAR., 68 (Suppl. 2): 5-438 SCIENTIA MARINA 2004 Fauna of the Mediterranean Hydrozoa* JEAN BOUILLON1, MARIA DOLORES MEDEL2, FRANCESC PAGÈS3, JOSEP-MARIA GILI3, FERDINANDO BOERO4 and CINZIA GRAVILI4 1 Laboratoire de Biologie Marine, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 50 Ave F. D. Roosevelt, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium. 2 Departamento de Fisiología y Zoología, Facultad de Biologia, Universidad de Sevilla, Reina Mercedes 6, 410121 Sevilla, Spain. 3 Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC) Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. 4 Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali, Stazione di Biologia Marina, Università di Lecce, 73100, Lecce, Italy. SUMMARY: This study provides a systematic account of the hydrozoan species collected up to now in the Mediterranean Sea. All species are described, illustrated and information on morphology and distribution is given for all of them. This work is the most complete fauna of hydrozoans made in the Mediterranean. The fauna includes planktonic hydromedusae, benth- ic polyps stages and the siphonophores. The Hydrozoa are taken as an example of inconspicuous taxa whose knowledge has greatly progressed in the last decades due to the scientific research of some specialists in the Mediterranean area. The num- ber of species recorded in the Mediterranean almost doubled in the last thirty years and the number of new records is still increasing. The 457 species recorded in this study represents the 12% of the world known species. The fauna is completed with classification keys and a glossary of terms with the main purpose of facilitating the identification of all Meditrranean hydrozoan species. Key words: Hydrozoa, hydromedusae, hydropolyps, siphonophores, taxonomy, systematics, fauna, Mediterranean.
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