Dendrodoa grossularia is a solitary ascidian up to 2 cm long and about 1,5 cm in diameter.
Its body has the form of a flat dome with an enlarging base but sometimes it
can be erected and marble-shaped. The oral siphon is terminal, close to the atrial siphon and both
are four-lobed. The test is reddish-brown. It can live solitary or in groups attached to rocks, shells
or seaweeds.
It is found from surface to 100 m deep in the Atlantic Ocean from the Arctic to the Southern coasts of
Brittany, in the English Channel, the North Sea and West-Baltic.
Phylum Chordata, subphylum Tunicata, class Ascidiacea, order Stolidobranchia, family Styelidae, Dendrodoa grossularia (Van Beneden, 1846).
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.
Atrial siphon: Opening through which water is expelled.
Photograph: © Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat. Published with author's kind permission.
Dendrodoa grossularia, Bay of Concarneau, South-Brittany, West of France. Depth 3 meters.
Text: Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2006-2008.
Translation: Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2007-2008.
