Styela clava

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Stalked Sea Squirt
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Subphylum: Urochordata Class: Ascidiacea Order: Pleurogona Family: Styelidae Genus: Styela Species: S. clava
Binomial name
Styela clava[1] Herdman, 1881

The Stalked Sea Squirt, Styela clava, is a solitary, hermaphroditic, ascidian tunicate that is found off Australia^[2] and New Zealand^[3], both coasts of North America^[4], and Europe^[5].

These sea squirts are characterized by their brown or yellow, rough and wrinkled surface. They can grow to be about 6" (15 cm) tall and can be found on lobster pots, pilings, and fishing nets. This species of sea squirts is native to Japan. It may have been carried to New England waters from Europe (where it arrived in the early 1950s) in ballast water or ship fouling.^[6]

[edit] Other names

• Club or Clubbed Tunicate
• Solitary Sea Squirt
• Rough Sea Squirt
• Leathery Sea Squirt
• Asian Sea Squirt

[edit] External links

• National Introduced Marine Pest Information System of Australia: Leathery Sea Squirt
• Narragansett Bay Biota Gallery: Asian Stalked Sea Squirt
• National Centre for Aquatic Biodiversity & Biosecurity of New Zealand: Invasive Sea Squirt Fact Sheet
• The Tunicate Styela: A Community Housing Project

[edit] Notes

1. ^ ITIS report. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
2. ^ Hewitt, C., et al. (1999). "Marine biological invasions of Port Phillip Bay, Victoria.". Centre for Research on Introduced Marine Pests CSIRO Technical Report (20): 344. 
3. ^ Davis MH and Davis ME (2006). "Styela clava (Tunicata: Ascidacea) a new edition to the fauna of New Zealand.". Porcupine Marine Natural History Society Newsletter 20: 23–28. 
4. ^ Wonham MJ and Carlton JT (2005). "Trends in marine biological invasions at local and regional scales: the Northeast Pacific Ocean as a model system.". Biological Invasions 7: 369–392. doi:10.1007/s10530-004-2581-7. 
5. ^ Davis MH and Davis ME (2005). "Styela clava (Tunicata: Ascidacea) a new edition to the fauna of the Portuguese coast.". Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 85: 403–404. doi:10.1017/S002531540501132Xh. 
6. ^ Asian Stalked Sea Squirt. Narragansett Bay Commission. Retrieved on 2007-02-18.