(Sars, 1846)

Description
Pneumatophore [A.elegans-top ]: small, ovoid, usually with red-pigmented cap.
Nectophore [Agalma elegans ]: with large truncated lateral processes which surround the nectosomal stem. Latero-vertical ridge runs perpendicularly up from the infra-lateral ridge and delimits a triangular facet apical ridge and runs along side of nectophore in its distal half. Bracts: thin and leaf-like, ending in three small projections. The siphonosomal stem is highly contractile.
Juveniles [A.elegans-juv ]: the post-larva, or Athorybia stage, bears 4-6 small, thick triangular larval bracts with serrated edge below which is a single gastrozooid.

Colour
Pneumatophore with red-pigmented cap.

Size
Nectophore: up to 7 mm in length.
Post-larva is usually less than 4 mm in length.

Depth range
In the W Atlantic known from deeper waters.

Distribution in the North Sea
Mainly known from the northern North Sea in the W English Channel; possibly in the southern North Sea.

World distribution
Cosmopolitan in the World’s oceans, but records are infrequent. Its presence in shallower waters probably is associated with the incursions of oceanic waters on to the continental Shelf.

[After Kirkpatrick and Pugh, 1984]

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Cnidaria
Superclass Hydrozoa
Class Siphonophora
Order Physonectae
Family Agalmatidae
Genus Agalma
Species Agalma elegans

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Agalma elegans (Sars, 1846)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Agalmopsis elegans | Sars, 1846
Agalmopsis sarsi | Kölliker, 1853
Agalma clavata | Leuckart, 1853
Agalma elegans | Fewkes, 1880
Agalma sarsii | Fewkes, 1880

Kirkpatrick, P.A. and P.R. Pugh, 1984. Siphonophores and Velellids. Synopses of the British Fauna (New Series), No. 29. Brill/Backhuys, London.

Totton, A.K. and J.H. Fraser, 1957a. Siphonophora. Suborder: Calycophorae. Family: Abylidae. Fiches d'Identification du Zooplancton, 61 (1955). Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer, Kopenhagen.

Totton, A.K., 1965. A synopsis of the Siphonophora. British Museum (Natural History). London, 230 pp, 153 figs, 40 pls.

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