Kirchenpaueria pinnata
CNIDARIA
Hydrozoa
🌿🤨 Despite its appearance, the plumed hydroid is not a plant but an animal! And not just any!
🪸ଳ Just like Jayson, this hydrozoan belongs to Cnidaria. Indeed, cnidarian species can be solitary like sea anemones or jellyfish, or colonial, like corals or this beautiful plumed hydroid!
🪶🤝Each delicate “feather” is made up of numerous individual organisms or polyps, working together as a colony.
👀🏖️ Keep your eyes open, because you can spot these cool creatures in tidal pools, attached to a diverse range of substrates – rocks, shells, crab shells, seaweed, even wooden structures!
🤝🐝 The colony is made up of individuals with different specialized functions: feeding, defense, reproduction…just like bees in their hive! It’s the division of labor.
🎣🌿 What we see most on the colony are the feeder polyps or hydranths. Each of them can catch food with its tentacles, bring to its mouth – the hypothosme – and pre-digest it. The nutrients are then shared and distributed in the colony through the stolon ( = the branches).
🛡️🍢 There is also structures specialized for the defense, the small stinging nematophores located between hydranths!
🍐⚧️ Finally, the individuals in charge of reproduction are pear-shaped sacs full of eggs found at the base of the plume. They are not visible here – but maybe I will show you another time!
