First Record of Porpita porpita (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) from the Coral Reef Ecosystem, Bangladesh

The occurrence of Porpita porpita is reported, for the first time, in the coral island of St. Martin's located in the southeastern coastal region of Bangladesh. P. porpita was found to occur in the lower littoral zone and beach rock pools, together with molluscan species, and collected during the pre-monsoon season when both water temperature (> 30 degrees C) and salinity (> 30 parts per thousand) tend to reach a maximum. This study recounts some details on the discovery and description of the species, and thus extends the global distribution and range limits of the genus Porpita.