(Quoy and Gaimard, 1827)

Description
Umbrella hemispherical, about as wide as high or wider; jelly thick [M.rotunda-adult ]. Velum about 1/10 of bell radius.
Stomach short, with pyramidal apex attached to subumbrella along edges of cross-shaped furrow [M.rotunda-drawing ]. Mouth with slightly crenulated margins [M.rotunda-medusa ]. Radial canals four, issuing from stomach at ends of cross-shaped furrows. Ring canal narrow, widening opposite each marginal tentacle.
Gonads transversely folded along sides of cross-shaped furrow.
Marginal tentacles usually 16, up to 28(?32), hollow, smooth, with large conical basal bulbs. 1-3(4) spindle-shaped, hollow cordyli between adjacent marginal tentacles, with abundant nematocysts [M.rotunda-margin ]. No ocelli.

Size
Diameter up to ca 22 mm.

Colour
Stomach, radial canals, gonads, and marginal tentacle bulbs carmine red to violet.

Ecology
There is little information about the reproductive season: probably October-December (Edwards, 1973b).

Depth range
— Medusa typically deep-sea oceanic.
— Hydroid recorded on variety of substrates, commonly colonial hydroids; coastal and across Continental Shelf, some deeper records to 681 m (Ramil and Vervoort, 1992a).

Distribution in the North Sea
Recorded from the North Sea (Kramp, 1947); probably common nowhere every year.

World distribution
Boreal to tropical parts of Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Oceans (Ramil and Vervoort, 1992a).
— Medusa recorded in Atlantic Ocean from mid-Norway, Iceland and W Greenland south to Patagonia, W Africa and off Antarctic continent (Edwards, 1973b).
— Hydroid recorded in Atlantic Ocean from the same areas as medusa, but also north to Barents and Kara Seas (Naumov, 1969).

[Description after Cornelius, 1995a]

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Cnidaria
Superclass Hydrozoa
Class Leptolida
Subclass Leptothecatae
Order Conica
Suborder Campanulinida
Superfamily Loadiceoidea
Family Tiarannidae
Genus Modeeria
Species Modeeria rotunda

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Modeeria rotunda (Quoy & Gaimard, 1827)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Dianaea rotunda | Quoy and Gaimard, 1827
Rotundula brochii | Hartlaub, 1917
Stegopoma fastigiata | Alder, 1860

Cornelius, P.F.S., 1995a. North-West European thecate hydroids and their Medusae. Part 1. Synopses of the British Fauna (New Series), No 50.

Edwards, C., 1973b. The medusa Modeeria rotunda and its hydroid Stegopoma fastigiatum, with a review of Stegopoma and Stegolaria. J. mar. biol. Ass. UK, 53: 573-600.

Fraser, J.H., 1972. The distribution of the Medusae in the Scottish area. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (B) 74(1): 1-25.

Kramp, P.L. and D. Damas, 1925. Les Méduses de la Norvège. Videnskabelige Meddelelser fra Dansk naturhistorisk Forening i København 80: 217-323.

Kramp, P.L., 1947. Medusae. Part III Trachylina and Scyphozoa. With zoographical remarks on all the medusae of the Northern Atlantic. The Danish Ingolf-Expedition, Volume V, part 14. H. Hagerup, Copenhagen.

Ramil, F. and W. Vervoort, 1992a. Report on the Hydroida collected by the 'BALGIM' expedition in and around the Strait of Gibraltar. Zoologische Verhandelingen 277: 1-262.

Russell, F.S., 1953a. The medusae of the British Isles. Anthomedusae, Leptomedusae, Limnomedusae, Trachymedusae, and Narcomedusae. Cambridge University Press, 530 pp. 319 figures, 35 plates.

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