Fauna of the Mediterranean Hydrozoa.

Abstract

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, benthic 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 number 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