Twenty-two species of benthic hydroids, belonging to ten families and 14 genera, were found in a hydroid collection obtained
in the Balleny Islands during the BioRoss expedition with the NIWA research vessel
Tangaroa in 2004. Twenty of those species constitute new records for the Balleny Islands, raising the total number of known species
in the area to 25. Most are members of the subclass Leptothecata, although the subclass Anthoathecata is also relatively well
represented. Kirchenpaueriidae and Sertulariidae constitute families with the greatest numbers of species in the collection,
with five species (20%) each.
Oswaldella with five species (20%) and
Staurotheca with four (16%), were the most diverse genera. Twelve species (63%) are endemic to Antarctic waters, most of them with a
circum-Antarctic distribution, and 17 (89%) are restricted to Antarctic or Antarctic/sub-Antarctic waters. Although the Balleny
Islands hydroid fauna seems to be a typical Antarctic assemblage, it has some striking peculiarities, namely the absence or
low representation of some typical and widespread Antarctic genera (
Antarctoscyphus and
Schizotricha/
Symplectoscyphus, respectively).
Keywords Hydrozoans - Southern Ocean - Benthos - Autecology - Biogeography - New records