Size
Colony height: 1cm or less (0.4")
Recognition Characters
Colonies are small arising from a tangled rhizocaulus. Hydrocaulus is branched or unbranched with short pedicels. Hydranths are elongate with scattered filiform tentacles. Medusa buds arise on stems or pedicels below hydranths.
Color
Habitat & Depth
Attach to debris and artificial substrates like buoy chains and lines.
Distribution at GRNMS
Occasional. May be more common but unnoticed because of small size.
Geographic Range
Western Atlantic. Introduced to Hawaii and Pacific Ocean
Behavior & Notes
T. nutricula releases large abundances of medusae during summer which can often be seen by divers. Medusae are thimble-shaped, with relatively thin mesoglea, and up to 100 tentacles in adults. T. nutricula has evolved a remarkable ability to revert to its polyp stage after becoming sexually mature as a medusae (Bavestrello et al., 1992; Piraino et al., 1996). In the laboratory, 100% of these medusae regularly undergo this change. Thus, it is possible that organismic death does not occur in this species since it can perpetuate reproduction in both medusae and hydroid forms.
Synonyms
Sterrer 1986