''Pycnotheca mirabilis'', The feathery hydroid, is a colonial hydroid in the family

Kirchenpaueriidae Kirchenpaueriidae is a family of hydrozoans in the superfamily Plumularioidea. Their hydrocladia are characteristically set in an alternating fashion as one progresses along the stems, forming two neat rows except in '' Oswaldella laertesi'', w ...

. Feathery hydroids are often white and grow in crowded colonies resembling upright feathers. The stems may grow to 3 cm in total height. The reproductive bodies are found at the base of the stems and resemble beehives. Millard, N.A.H. 1975. Monograph on the Hydroida of Southern Africa. ''Ann. S. Afr. Mus.'' 68:1-513 This colonial animal is found off the South African coast from False Bay to KwaZulu-Natal, as well as around the Indo-Pacific rim and

Vema Seamount Vema Seamount is a seamount in the South Atlantic Ocean. Discovered in 1959 by a ship with the same name, it lies from Tristan da Cunha and northwest of Cape Town. The seamount has a flat top at a mean depth of which was eroded into the seamoun ...

. It lives from the subtidal to 50 m under water. This species eats microplankton.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2918224 Kirchenpaueriidae Fauna of South Africa Animals described in 1883