Aplidium elegans

Sea-strawberry

   Aplidium elegans is a colonial sea squirt forming pink cushions from 3 to 4 cm long. The zooids are embedded in a common test and grouped around sinuous, irregular cloacal canals. The oral siphons are slightly prominent and bordered of eight small white lobes. Colonies are attached to rocks.
It is found from 5 m to 20 m deep in the English Channel and the Atlantic Ocean. A similar species is known in the Mediterranean Sea.

Classification:

 Phylum Chordata, subphylum Tunicata, class Ascidiacea, order Aplousobranchia, family Polyclinidae, Aplidium elegans (Giard, 1872).

Page glossary:

Zooid: Individual, single animal.
Test: or tunic: thick layer secreted by the mantel, containing cellulose and protecting the animal.
Oral siphon: Opening by which water is drawn in the ascidian.
Cloacal: Related to the cavity through which water is expelled from the ascidian.

Authors:

Photograph:  © Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat. Published with author's kind permission.
Aplidium elegans, Iles Glénan, South Brittany, West of France. Depth 12 meters.
Text:  Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2005-2008.
Translation:  Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2007-2008.