Mushroom sea squirt
| Mushroom sea squirt | ||||||||||||
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Mushroom Sea Squirt ( Nephtheis fascicularis ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
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| Gould , 1856 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Nephtheis fascicularis | ||||||||||||
| ( Drasche , 1882) |
The fungal sea squirt ( Nephtheis fascicularis , Syn. : Oxycorynia fascicularis ) is a sessile, colonial ( animal sticks forming) tunicate (tunicates) the tropical Indo-Pacific as far as the west coast of Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, New Guinea Micronesia occurs.
features
The colonies look like morels and are blue, green, or gray-green in color. All individual animals ( zooids ) of a colony form a blackberry-like looking colony head that sits on a thick stem. All Zooids are the same size and at the same level of development. The head of the colony is fragile, very soft and translucent, and the stem is somewhat firmer. The colony head can be eight centimeters long and three centimeters in diameter. An entire mushroom sea squirt stick, which consists of several stalks that form a common base with the associated colony heads, can reach a height of 25 centimeters. A network of veins runs through the stems, which connects all the zooids. Mushroom sea squirts are hermaphroditic and feed as filter feeders .
The mushroom sea squirt is eaten by nudibranch snails of the genus Tambja and by Nembrothia lineolata .
literature
- Harry Erhardt, Horst Moosleitner: Mergus Sea Water Atlas. Volume 3, Mergus-Verlag, Melle 1997, ISBN 3-88244-103-8 .
- Harry Erhardt, Hans A. Baensch : Mergus sea water atlas. Volume 5, Mergus-Verlag, Melle 2000, ISBN 3-88244-115-1 .
- Svein A. Fossa, Alf Jacob Nilsen: Coral reef aquarium. Volume 6, Schmettkamp Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-928819-18-6 .
Web links
- World Register of Marine Species: Gittenberger, A. (2010): Nephtheis fascicularis (Drasche, 1882)