Douglas Mason, USA
Info
Aplidium californicum (Ritter & Forsyth, 1917)
Aplidium californicum is a colonial tunicate native to the cold Bering Sea, the west coast of the Americas, the Gulf of California, and the Galapagos Islands, which are part of Ecuador.
The sea squirt settles on a variety of solid or semi-solid substrates, including docks, tubeworms, crab shells, bivalves, and marine algae. Aplidium californicum usually lives in areas protected from direct surf, such as semi-protected sites.
Texture is gelatinous or fleshy, usually without embedded sand (sand can sometimes encrust the surface of the sea squirt, however).
The color of Aplidium californicum is quite variable, occurring in the following color dresses: light brown, yellowish, gray, opalescent white, orange, transparent, or orange-brown.
The predators of this sessile tunicate include the starfish Dermasterias imbricata, Asterina miniata, Mediaster aequalis and Pteraster tesselatus.
The symbiotic amphipod Polycheria osborni can live in grooves on the sea squirt, but so can the parasitic copepod Pholeterides furtiva.
Similar species: Aplidium solidum, this sea squirt is red or orange-brown.
Synonym: Amaroucium californicum Ritter & Forsyth, 1917
Aplidium californicum is a colonial tunicate native to the cold Bering Sea, the west coast of the Americas, the Gulf of California, and the Galapagos Islands, which are part of Ecuador.
The sea squirt settles on a variety of solid or semi-solid substrates, including docks, tubeworms, crab shells, bivalves, and marine algae. Aplidium californicum usually lives in areas protected from direct surf, such as semi-protected sites.
Texture is gelatinous or fleshy, usually without embedded sand (sand can sometimes encrust the surface of the sea squirt, however).
The color of Aplidium californicum is quite variable, occurring in the following color dresses: light brown, yellowish, gray, opalescent white, orange, transparent, or orange-brown.
The predators of this sessile tunicate include the starfish Dermasterias imbricata, Asterina miniata, Mediaster aequalis and Pteraster tesselatus.
The symbiotic amphipod Polycheria osborni can live in grooves on the sea squirt, but so can the parasitic copepod Pholeterides furtiva.
Similar species: Aplidium solidum, this sea squirt is red or orange-brown.
Synonym: Amaroucium californicum Ritter & Forsyth, 1917
