Almost Us!? Sea Squirts, Tunicates, Ascidians, Subphylum Urochordata, Phylum Chordata pt 2.

/The Conscientious Reef Aquarist

Almost Us!? Sea Squirts, Tunicates, Ascidians, Subphylum Urochordata, Phylum Chordata pt 2.

By Bob Fenner

Ascidian City!

Genus Clavelina: Bulbous small zooids, stalked to degrees

Clavelina sp. Bulb Tunicates. Grow in clusters. These ones common in Florida, Bahamas, the Caribbean.

Clavelina sp. 2. Colonies appear as crowded bulbous zooids. Clear to translucent with white wing patches.

Clavelina sp. 3. Colonies appear as crowded bulbous zooids. Blue translucent and light lined bodied with white wing patches. Here in Raja Ampat.

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Clavelina cyclus Herdman 1886, the Pale Club Sea Squirt. Tropical Indo-West Pacific. Less than an inch in height. Not easily kept... short lived (about a year), not known to reproduce in captivity.

Clavelina detorta (Sluiter 1904), (a) stalked tunicate. Indo-W. Pacific. Typical habitat is under rocky shelves in coastal reefs. Here in S. Leyte, P.I.

Clavelina cf. flava Monniot 1988, Trapezoidal zooids, with short stalks. Most colors are orange to yellow. Western Pacific. Here in S. Leyte 2013

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Clavelina diminuta Kott 1957. Western Pacific; Australia, Indonesia, Philippines. Colonies form masses of rounded heads of highly variable color. Kott (1990) moved this species to the genus Pycnoclavella. Off the north (Gilis) of Lombok, and N. Sulawesi, Indo.

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Clavelina moluccensis (Sluiter 1904). Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines. Colonies occur as many ovoid zooids on thick stalks. Color varies from dark to light blue to violet. One colony off Pulau Redang, Malaysia, another off Queensland, Austr..

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Clavelina picta, the Painted Tunicate. Florida, Bahamas, Caribbean. Frequently found in clusters of hundreds of individuals hanging on to gorgonians, black coral, sponges. Translucent bodies of variable cool colors. Siphon rims reddish to dark purple. A colony in the Bahamas on a Sea Fan, and one off St. Thomas.

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Clavelina robusta Kott 1990. Western Pacific; Australia, Indonesia. Philippines, Japan, Solomons. Dense clusters of cylindrical zooids. Dark blue to gray in color with yellow, green or white rings about both siphons. Here in Bunaken/Sulawesi/Indo.

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Clavelina cf. viola. Here in S. Leyte, P.I.

Clavelina sp. and a "marauding" flatworm, Pseudobiceros species that resembles the nudibranch, Glossodoris atromarginata (Cuvier 1804) feeding upon the colony. N. Sulawesi images.

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Genus Cystodytes:

Cystodytes lobatus. Lobed Tunicate. A young (flat) colony here in Puerto Vallarta (2015). Color varies from grey, lavender, pink to whitish. To about 10 inches across.

Genus Diazona:

Diazona sp. Clear, tubular tunicates, of 1 or 2 cm. height with six with spade-shaped dots around their cloacal siphons. Raja Ampat photo.

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Didemnids:

Didemnum sp. Common on reefs in the tropical W. Atlantic. Membraneous, spreading colonies that are pink to magenta in color, sometimes with light to white areas around their cloacal siphons.

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Didemnum conchyliatum (Sluiter 1898). Typically orangish with white speckling.
Cozumel (Mexico) 2011

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Didemnum molle Herdman 1886. Barrel-shaped to encrusting zooids, Larger cloacal siphons, w/ more smaller oral siphons. Very common in its range. Tropical Indo-Pacific; South Africa to PNG. Queensland/GBR and N. Sulawesi images.

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Didemnum moseleyi Herdman 1886, Moseley's Sea Squirt. Tropical Indo-West Pacific, including the Red Sea. Encrusts rocks in brightly lit areas to 25 meters depth. Not easily kept. Must be collected with substrate attached. Red Sea image.

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Didemnum sp. Common on reef flats and slopes in the Philippines, New Guinea and here in Fiji. Membraneous, spreading colonies that are pink to magenta in color, sometimes with light to white areas around their cloacal siphons.

To: Part 1, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,

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