tubulaires

Tubulaires, also called tubularians, is a historical term used in marine biology and paleontology to describe a group of small, colonial hydrozoans within the phylum Cnidaria. The term originated from the genus Tubularia and related forms, which form slender, tube-like structures that house feeding polyps. In typical colonies, a network of interconnected tubes contains the hydranths (feeding polyps) that protrude along the tubes and extend tentacles to capture small plankton. The colony grows by budding, producing new zooids that share a common skeleton, and some species also generate sexual medusae as part of their life cycle.

Tubulaires are predominantly marine and are found worldwide in shallow coastal habitats, often attached to kelp, rocks, or man-made substrates. They are suspension feeders, contributing to local filtration and forming part of the community of sessile benthic organisms. Their morphology can be highly variable, ranging from simple unbranched tubes to more elaborate branching networks, but all share the tubular habit that gives them their common name.

Taxonomic status: The term tubulaires represents a historical grouping rather than a modern clade. Advances in molecular phylogenetics have reorganized hydrozoan classification, and tubularians are now treated as part of several different hydrozoan lineages rather than a single taxonomic unit. The term remains common in older literature and in some French sources, where it is used more broadly to denote tube-like hydrozoan colonies.

See also: Hydrozoa, Tubulariidae, Tubularia, Cordylophora.