Pyrosoma aherniosum

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia > Chordata > Tunicata > Thaliacea > Pyrosomatida > Family: Pyrosomatidae > Genus: Pyrosoma

Description

Small, lumpy, angular, transparent colonies, up to 2.5 cm long by 1.5 cm wide (van Soest 1981). Zooids up to 4.1 mm long with a broad, large oral siphon and a very short cloacal siphon. 

Distribution and habitat

This pelagic species occurs in warm waters of all three oceans from 30ºN to 30ºS. The distribution map in van Soest (1981) shows one record in southern African seas.

Publications

• van Soest RWM. 1981. A monograph of the order Pyrosomatida (Tunicata, Thaliacea). Journal of Plankton Research 3(4): 603–631.

Text by Hamish Robertson