Look Alikes
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How to Distinguish from Similar Species: Other tunicates of similar shape are not usually pinkish-red, or have a wrinkled tunic. The sea peach, Halocynthia aurantia, is a similar smooth, shiny pinkish color but it has broader siphons of unequal size and is taller than it is wide. Of other common local smooth, orange tunicates, Metandrocarpa taylori is a social ascidian, with multiple individuals living near each other and connected by narrow stolons or sheets of tunic. Distaplia occidentalis is a compound ascidian with many individuals within the same tunic.
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Habitat
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Hard substrates in well-circulated waters. Sometimes found on floats. Sometimes lives in holes.
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Distribution
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Geographical Range: Alaska to Point Conception, CA; most common from Washington north. Also northwestern Pacific, circumboreal in the Arctic
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Comprehensive Description
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This solitary, unstalked tunicate has a smooth, shiny, pinkish-red opaque tunic which often looks pearly. The shape is often approximately heispherical. Tunic is white when the animal is very small. Siphons are far apart and prominent in a relaxed animal. When fully retracted the siphons look like small crosses. Usually less than 3 cm across base though can get up to 5 cm, and up to 2.5 cm high.
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Comprehensive Description
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Biology/Natural History: This species is hermaphroditic. Fertilization is external, during the summer. The tunic is thin but tough, with 12.4% organic content. Just over half the organic matter in the tunic is tunicin; the rest is protein. Vanadium content of the body is low Predators include the seastar Orthasterias koehleri. The copepod Pygodelphys aquilonarius may live symbiotically in the branchial chamber and many invertebrates may live around the base.
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Habitat
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Depth Range: Very low intertidal to at least 50 m
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Cnemidocarpa finmarkiensis
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Cnemidocarpa finmarkiensis is a species of solitary ascidian tunicate in the family Styelidae. Common names include broad base sea squirt, orange sea squirt, red sea squirt, shiny orange sea squirt, shiny red tunicate and Finmark's tunicate.[2] It is native to shallow waters in the northern and northeastern Pacific Ocean.
Description
This is a solitary tunicate, which has no stalk, but adheres to the substrate with a broad base and often appears hemispherical. The two siphons are far apart and conspicuous when expanded, but much smaller when contracted, resembling small crosses. The length of this tunicate is seldom larger than 3 cm (1.2 in), but can exceptionally reach 5 cm (2 in), with a width of 2.5 cm (1 in). The tunic is thin, but strong, being smooth and shiny. It is often pearly or opaque in appearance, bright red or pinkish-red, but small individuals are often white.[2][3] The tunic has a 12.4% organic content, more than half of which is cellulose (tunicin), the rest being protein.[2][4]
Distribution
This tunicate is a coldwater species and occurs in the northern and northeastern Pacific Ocean. It is circum-boreal in the Arctic and its range in the Pacific Northwest extends from Alaska to Point Conception in California. Its depth range extends from the low subtidal to at least 50 m (160 ft), but it occurs down to about 540 m (1,770 ft) in Japan.[2]
Ecology
Like other tunicates, Cnemidocarpa finmarkiensis is a suspension feeder; water is drawn into the body through the buccal siphon by the action of cilia lining the gill slits, the food particles are extracted and the water is expelled through the atrial siphon.[5] It is a hermaphrodite, with breeding taking place in summer, fertilisation being external. A symbiotic copepod often lives inside the atrium and various invertebrates shelter around the tunicate's base. A predator of this tunicate is the rainbow star (Orthasterias koehleri).[2]
References
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^ a b Sanamyan, Karen (2018). "Cnemidocarpa finmarkiensis (Kiaer, 1893)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
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^ a b c d e Cowles, Dave (2005). "Cnemidocarpa finmarkiensis Kiaer, 1893". Invertebrates of the Salish Sea. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
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^ North, Wheeler J (1976). Underwater California. University of California Press. p. 228. ISBN 978-0-520-03039-8.
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^ Endean, R (1961). "The test of the ascidian, Phallusia mammillata" (PDF). Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science. 102 (1): 107–117.
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^ Ruppert, Edward E.; Fox, Richard, S.; Barnes, Robert D. (2004). Invertebrate Zoology (7 ed.). Cengage Learning. pp. 940–956. ISBN 81-315-0104-3.
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Cnemidocarpa finmarkiensis: Brief Summary
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Cnemidocarpa finmarkiensis is a species of solitary ascidian tunicate in the family Styelidae. Common names include broad base sea squirt, orange sea squirt, red sea squirt, shiny orange sea squirt, shiny red tunicate and Finmark's tunicate. It is native to shallow waters in the northern and northeastern Pacific Ocean.
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