Fig. 2

Colony parts and zooids of Pectinatella magnifica, Cristatella mucedo and Hyalinella punctata a: Part of the worm-shaped colony of C. mucedo, where protruded zooids are visible. The green structures are the digestive tracts of the animals and the prominent lophophore is visible. b: Part of a P. magnifica colony with protruded zooids. Statoblasts are visible within the colony. White spots are located over the whole colony in a regular pattern. c: Detail of C. mucedo zooids viewed from the anal side. The lophophoral arms with the tentacles, the tentacle sheath and the retractors are visible. Furthermore, the intestine is visible in green. d: Single zooid of P. magnifica seen from the lateral side. The area of the epistome and foregut appears heavily pigmented. At the distal tip of the prominent lophophoral arms white spots are visible. e: Part of a H. punctata colony with retracted zooids. Despite the tight arrangement the branching colony pattern is visible. f: Close-up of a colony of H. punctata with retracted zooids. The orifice and the gelatinous body wall are visible. Abbreviations: bw – body wall, cg – cerebral ganglion, e- epistome, dt - digestive tract, es – esophagus, int – intestine, l - lophophore, la- lophophoral arms, mo – mouth opening, o - orifice, phx – pharynx, rm. – retractor muscle, sb – statoblast, t - tentacles, ts – tentacle sheath, ws – white spot, z – zooid