top of page
Sea bedgehog hydroid
Sponge & Cnidarian
Sea bedgehog hydroid
Halecium muricatum (Ellis & Solander, 1786)
WoRMS AphialID
117597
Sample IDs
HMSC174_01095 https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCCN041-24; HMSC174_01221 https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCCN055-24; HMSC174_02391 https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCCN078-24; GM2024_55 https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCCN174-25
Collected
Quebec, Grand Manan, Labrador.
Distinguishing Features
• Large hydroid with colonies reaching up to 20 cm high, but more often around 5 cm.
• Branching in one plane.
• Main stem and branches quite straight but branching pattern irregular.
• All branches apart from very ends polysiphonic.
• Hydrothecae alternate.
• Hydrothecae pedicels delimited by a deep node from the apophysis of the hydrocladium.
• Margin of hydrothecae strongly flared or may be inrolled.
• Characteristic spiny gonothecae with 10–16 rows of spines. These can be crowded on the stem and branches.
Habitat
Attaches onto bedrock. Found from 0–1350 m.
Geographic Range
Arctic and northern temperate waters. Down to Cape Hatteras on the Atlantic coast of Canada/USA and the UK in the Eastern Atlantic. Also found in Alaska and Siberian seas.
Fun Fact
The common name refers to the shape of its gonothecae which are very spiny and look like tiny hedgehogs.
Barcode Distribution
All records in BIN from Norway.
bottom of page