Gonophores

modified individuals in the colonies of hy-droid polyps and siphonophores in which the sex products are formed.

Gonophores are in effect underdeveloped medusae that remain attached to the trunk of the colony, with a closed bell, without radial canals and tentacles, and usually without a proboscis. Gonophores are dioecious, and the sex products, formed from the ectoderm and lining the cavity of the gonophore, emerge to the outside through a cleft in the body wall.