Scott & Jeanette Johnson, Kwajalein Unterwater
Info
Rhopalaea circula Monniot F. & Monniot C., 2001
The species name "circula" comes from the Latin word "circulus" and means "circle". The species name was well given because the special feature of this large sea squirt is blue rings. The colonial sea squirt is a filter feeder. Rhopalaea circula does not seem to be very picky about habitats, as specimens have been found on nylon ropes in a bath sponge farm, among other places.
These sea squirts grow in "clusters that are often grown together at the base. A bush consists of large and small zooids. They are transparently bluish and have some deep blue rings (hence the species name). The transparency makes it possible to see the musculature to see.
Rhopalaea circula is scientifically close to the species Rhopalaea tenuis and Rhopalaea macrothorax.
The type material for describing the sea squirt came from Micronesia.
The species name "circula" comes from the Latin word "circulus" and means "circle". The species name was well given because the special feature of this large sea squirt is blue rings. The colonial sea squirt is a filter feeder. Rhopalaea circula does not seem to be very picky about habitats, as specimens have been found on nylon ropes in a bath sponge farm, among other places.
These sea squirts grow in "clusters that are often grown together at the base. A bush consists of large and small zooids. They are transparently bluish and have some deep blue rings (hence the species name). The transparency makes it possible to see the musculature to see.
Rhopalaea circula is scientifically close to the species Rhopalaea tenuis and Rhopalaea macrothorax.
The type material for describing the sea squirt came from Micronesia.
