Gonophore

Gonophores are borne on branching stalks that grow radially outward from the wall of a hydranth (i.e. the hydroid polyp, bearing a mouth, digestive cavity and tentacles).

[1] In the order Leptomedusae, the gonophores are borne on much-reduced hydranths and are usually protected in a peridermal (i.e. belonging to a hydroid perisarc) gonotheca.

In the family Sphaerocorynidae, the gonophores are borne singly or on short, branching blastostyles (i.e. the living axial portion of a modified gonangium, from which numerous medusae are budded) between or below tentacles.

The gonophores in the family Cladocorynidae are carried singly or on short, branched pedicels on the lower or middle part of the hydranth.

The gonophores in the family Solanderiidae, where known, arise directly from coenosarc (i.e. the hollow living tubes of the upright branching individuals of a colony).

In the family Milleporidae, they arise from the coenosarc within chambers embedded entirely in the coenosteum (i.e. the calcareous mass forming the skeleton of a compound coral).