The morphological and genetic identification of hydrozoans collected in the reef patches of Santa Marta, Colombia was carried out. This study allows to present two new records of hydroids species for the Colombian Caribbean: Halopteris alternata and Dentitheca dendritica. A total of 11 species and 1 genus were found using morphological and genetic identification with partial sequences of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene. The order Leptothecata was the most abundant represented by 9 families: Aglaopheniidae, Clytiidae, Haleciidae, Halopterididae, Kirchenpaueriidae, Plumulariidae, Sertularellidae, Sertulariidae and Thyroscyphidae, while the order Anthoathecata was represented by 2 families: Eudendriidae and Pennariidae. Despite the lack of studies on this group of organisms in the country, the use of the 16S rRNA gene proved to be very useful to provide complementary evidence in our understanding of the biological diversity of hydrozoans in Colombia.
The specific identity of the common octopus fished along the Colombian Caribbean was studied based on 58 specimens collected from artisanal fishing in five localities (Providencia, San Andrés, Santa Marta, Cartagena and Isla Fuerte). A molecular systematic analysis of the mitochondrial genes 16S ribosomal RNA and cytochrome c oxidase subunit III was carried out, along with a reanalysis of data for the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene. These analyses revealed that the common shallow-water octopus of the Colombian Caribbean is Octopus insularis. The trees generated for the three genes and the genetic distances for each of the genes (0–0.3%) confirmed the specimens collected in this study as belonging to a single clade and the species as O. insularis. Our results confirm that the octopus described recently as O. tayrona is in fact O. insularis and this extends the known distribution of the latter species to the southwestern Caribbean (i.e. Colombian coast). We discuss our findings in the context of the species misidentification of the O. vulgaris species complex.
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