Tesserogastria musculosa

Beyer, 1958

Description
Umbrella bell-shaped, as high as wide; jelly rather thin with slightly thickened apex; velum extremely broad, velum and subumbrella with strong tissue of muscle fibres. Centripetal canals absent, 8 radial canals, ring canal broad.
Gastric peduncle absent, manubrium simple, extending somewhat beyond bell margin; mesenteries and pouches or any trace of external or internal septa absent.
The eight gonads arranged in pairs on both sides of the four edges of the manubrium.
About 300 solid marginal tentacles inserted at 3-5 levels from velum, not in clusters; no adhesive tentacles.

Size
Umbrella 2 mm high and wide.

Ecology and depth range
A bottom dweller (in soft bottom) that only occasionally occurs in the plankton.

Distribution in the North Sea
Østfold-Oslofjord-Fensfjord area, Norway.

World distribution
Southern Norway.

Remark
Polyp stage absent.

[After Kramp, 1961; Russell, 1980]

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