Hydractiniidae L. Agassiz 1862

Here is some footage of the hydroid Podocoryna carnea releasing baby jellyfish. Footage is by Sophia Tintori, and released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license. Check out CreatureCast.org for stories about animals.

Hydractinia polyclina Ag. A.Nutritive 'person.' B. Reproductive persons. C.Spiral zooids or fighting persons.

Clava leptostyla Ag..

Podocoryne carnea.

Clava leptostyla.

Don't touch hydroids; they can sting you. This one is growing on kelp.

This view shows the underside of the colony. The original shell the colony encrusted is to the top right and the expansion which has grown beyond the shell, which covered the hermit crab's carapace, is to the left.

Sea mat on whelk; zeerasp op wulk.

This closeup view shows partly expanded polyps, which are about 0.5 mm diameter. Several of these polyps have more than 8 tentacles. Note also the blunt, short, slightly curved spines arising from the stolon mat between the polyps. A few of the smallest polyps may be dactylozooids.

This view of the edge of the colony shows how the stolons weave together to make a solid mat.

Hydractinia laevispina growing as an extension to a small gastropod shell inhabited by the hermit crab Labidochirus splendescens. Collected from 60-100 m depth in the San Juan Channel, July 2010. The shell is to the bottom right and the extension which has grown beyond the shell is to the upper left. Total colony width about 2 cm. (Photo by: Dave Cowles )

All Biocode files are based on field identifications to the best of the researcher’s ability at the time.