Leuckartiara octona

Penny Martin Leuckartiara octona....... in Scapa Flow, Orkney this morning !

George Brown Think this is Leuckartiara octona.

Andy Horton Where was this photographed please? And when? And how big/small is it?

Andy Horton http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=leuckartiara+octona&hl=en&safe=off&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=GpU3T7iTM-bP0QXN24SmAg&sa=X

Andy Horton It is a new species for me. (I live in Sussex)

Erling Svensen http://www.facebook.com/groups/224626804295339/ Here you can see images from Norway....

Erling Svensen Sorry - here........ http://uwphoto.no/shopdisplayproducts.asp?Search=Yes&sppp=20

Andy Horton These are magical

George Brown Hi Dawn. Many thanks for your constructive comments. That's exactly what I was trying to do. I'd rather have posted into Penny's thread but didn't know how to paste in a photograph! Will buy an Idiots Guide to Facebook next time I'm in town.

George Brown Photograph taken on the west side of Lampay Island (where the chart contours meet), Loch Dunvegan, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Same dive as the black onchidorid that appears in NE Atlantic Nudibranchs. 57deg 29.768'N 06deg 38.756'W. Depth 3.0 metres. 19th April 2009. The main body length is about 35mm long.

Bernard Picton Could you get a copy of Idiot's guide for me too George... I'm making it up as I go along....

Erling Svensen I do not look at you two as Idiots ;-). I have been a guide for Gearge in Trondheimsfjord and have met you, Bernard a couple of time, but idiots, no.........

David Kipling http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=151691344916296&set=a.151690598249704.39164.100002262958633&type=3&theater

David Kipling The above is an example for George of pasting a picture in. In this case I have this picture in one of my FB Albums. I went to it, got it up on screen and then cut and pasted the long URL into this thread. Voila - picture now embedded in the thread! OK the picture isn't actually relevant ... but it illustrates the trick.

Penny Martin Can anybody help with ID please? many seen in Deer Sound, Orkney today ......

Richard Lord That is fabulous.

Penny Martin But do youknow what it is ?? I assume hydromedusa or comb jelly ??

Richard Lord No, I don't. I would need to consult some books. If there is no success here try the cnidaria email list - many hundreds of experts on this list that could help with ID http://maillists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/cnidaria I would also suggest contacting Peter who owns the following website - http://www.ville-ge.ch/mhng/hydrozoa/hydrozoa-directory.htm

Andy Horton Could it be Sarsia tubulosa ? (no direct experience of this hydrozoan)

Andy Horton http://www.seawater.no/fauna/cnidaria/tubulosa.html

Marco Faasse Andy is correct. It's certainly Sarsia tubulosa. Medusae are released in early spring.

Penny Martin Thank you very much . :-)

Andy Horton In Sussex until June there is hardly anything to sea in the sea.

Penny Martin Here, in the water, it is differernt from the summer , few fishes in the shallows or shore and harbour crabs, but lots of sea hares, other sea slugs, lots of eggs and egg cases, different worms both polychaete and tube, spider crabs, hundreds of moon jellies and other hydomedusa and beautiful light and water clarity.

Marco Faasse It differs from Leuckartiara octona in having 4 tentacle bulbs with 1 tentacle each, and in other characters.

Darryl Mayer Cheers Marco, it's indeed a shame that this beasty is mis-ID'd (ie, the wrong photo) in the Photographic Guide to the Sea and Shore Life of Britain and NW Europe, as a Sea Gooseberry, Pleurobrachia pileus.

Liz Morris Lovely picture Penny. Darryl, unfortunately that book is riddled with misIDs,so be cautious with it!

Penny Martin Is this neoturris pileata ?? sorry about the quality ... was difficult to photograph

Erling Svensen I have a feeling this one is a Leuckartiara octona. Looks like it....

George Brown Hi Penny. I'm with Erling on this one. Neoturris has twice as many tentacles as Leuckartiara. That many you can't count them! I'll post a photo of Leuckartiara later. And I'm surprised you could photograph it at all snorkelling, so well done.

Andy Horton http://www.natuurlijkmooi.net/noorwegen/hydroiden/leuckartiara_octona_meduse.htm

Claire Goodwin There were a lot of these about on our dive in Northern Ireland at the weekend. From Russel's pictoral key (and a quick google) it seems most likely to be Pandea conica but from Russell's notes this seems to have a more southerly distribution (Med and S Atlantic) - although I see Wilfred's site has it in the North Sea. Any opinions?

Penny Martin could it be leuckartiara octona ???

Claire Goodwin sounds probable penny martin - thanks, distribution more likely. I'll have to have a good read of the key for that family.

Darryl Mayer They've been "blooming" in Upper Loch Sunart since the beginning of May, along with huge amounts of Comb Jellies too.

Penny Martin we have had lots of comb jellies too ... mainly bolinopsis infundibulum

Claire Goodwin leuckartiara octona is consensus - thanks!

Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat Hi Claire, I've made some brainstroming today on those little anthomedusae that look so similar. On our photos, I think tentacles are the only distinguishable character that helps to determine which species it could be. I think that yours is Leuckartiara nobilis : tentacles of different size but relatively close from each other as with Pandea conica. But P. conica has tentacles of the same size often grouped together by 3 to 4. Leuckartiara octona seems to have more space between tentacles because of adjacent rudimentray bulbs. As for the other species, Neoturris breviconis and Neoturris pileata, they have a greater number of tentacles.

Claire Goodwin Thanks Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat - I really will have to read the key now.

Andy Horton Which key do you use please?

Claire Goodwin I'm looking at Russel's (1953) 'the medusae of the British Isles' which is available as a free pdf here http://www.mba.ac.uk/nmbl/publications/medusae_1/medusae_1.htm. There may be a more modern one but I haven't come across it.

Andy Horton Thanks a lot. I thought that might be it. I did not know it was available online though.