Kyopoda lamberti
Body elongate and vermiform to about 20 mm in life, but for the most part is only about 1 mm or less in diameter.
Calyx short and slightly flared; no arm lobes are evident, with eight adradial groups of capitate secondary tentacles, about 25 tentacles per group with the outer, abaxial tentacles in each group with abaxial glandular pads about midway along their length. The eight primary tentacles (also called anchors) are located on the calyx margin, four perradial and four interradial, between the groups of secondary tentacles, with morphology similar to the abaxial secondary tentacles, but shorter and thicker. (all from Larson, 1988)
Mouth quadrate with frilled lips. The calyx contains the stomodeum and four perradial gastric cavities which extend through the stalk and into the gastric sac; coronal muscle weakly developed and continuous. (all from Larson, 1988)
Mature gonads contain numerous enlarged follicles in parallel rows that extend adaxially into the stomach cavity and abaxially into the dilated perradial cavities (Larson, 1988).
The peduncle is highly contractile and not clearly separated from the calyx; circular in cross section. It contains four perradial gastric cavities, the stomodeum, and four broad, interradial infundibula with associated longitudinal muscle bundles which extend into the gastric sac. The basal portion of the peduncle is swollen into a cruciform gastric sac where the stomach and gonads are located, with gastric cirri in four longitudinal interradial groups. Most of the gastric sac consists of four swollen, pouch-like perradial gastric cavities containing the paired adradial gonads. (all from Larson, 1988)
Color in life is purple, with small white spots on the calyx and stalk - the white spots are most numerous on the surface of the gastric sac (Larson, 1988).
Specimens are deposited at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, British Columbia, and at the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California (Larson, 1988).
This small, cryptic stauromedusa lives subtidally attached to cobble or rock in areas of wave surge on the west coast of North America; it is the only known staurozoan in which the stomach and gonads are located in the stalk rather than in the calyx (Larson, 1988). It has been observed only three times: four specimens were collected in the Queen Charlotte Islands/Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, in March 1976 by Philip Lambert and a single specimen was collected in San Onofre, San Diego County, California, in July 1985 by T. Herrlinger (Larson, 1988). Another specimen was photographed in Barkeley Sound, British Columbia, in January 1985 by Ron Shimek (E-Fauna of British Columbia, online).
Stauromedusa with four simple perradial gastric cavities and without a claustrum or mesogonial pocket; the basal portion of the stalk is enlarged and contains the stomach and gonads, which are absent from the calyx (Larson, 1988).
The medusa attaches to cobble stones or rock with its large basal disc, extending its elongate, vermiform body into wave-surged subtidal waters (Larson, 1988).
Preserved length from base to tentacle tips is 6 to 8 mm. Living animals are highly contractile and can extend to as much as 20 mm or more in length (Larson, 1988).
Cnidome (nematocysts - measured in preserved material): microbasic eurtyteles, 8 x 14 µm in scattered patches associated with white spots on the body surface, and 7 x 10 µm in the gastric cirri (Larson, 1988).
The genus name, Kyopoda, derives from the Greek for "swell" and "foot," referring to the swollen basal gastric sac (Larson, 1988).
The species is named for Philip Lambert of the Royal British Columbia Museum, who collected all of the Queen Charlotte Sound material and who has contributed much to the knowledge of the marine invertebrate fauna of British Columbia, Canada (Larson, 1988).
Four specimens collected in Rivers Inlet, Queen Charlotte Sound in the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) in British Columbia (51° 22.3' N, 127° 46.4' W; 8-10 m deep on 23 March 1976) and one specimen collected at San Onofre in southern California (33° 22' N, 116° 47' W; 14 m deep, in July 1985). It is possible that this small and cryptic species occurs all along the coast between British Columbia and southern California. (all from Larson, 1988)
One specimen photographed by Ron Shimek attached to a vertical rock wall with coralline algae on Blackfish Island, Deer Group, Barkeley Sound, Vancouver Island, British Columbia (48° 84.9' N, 125° 16.2' W; 13 m deep, on 21 January 1985). See http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/efauna/photoGallery/ShowStandard.aspx?index=39402, E-Fauna of British Columbia.
Larson (1988) reports this species observed and collected twice by SCUBA divers, subtidal in areas of wave surge, attached to stone cobbles which were partially encrusted with reddish coralline algae which helped to obscure the purple Kyopoda lamberti. Photographed in 1985 by Ron Shimek on a rock wall with coralline red algae.