Ascidia curvata (Traustedt 1882)

Fig. 3

Stations: AB 155; AR 72; AR 103; AR 415. (MNHN P5 ASC.A 433)

The specimens collected in Martinique are similar to other A. curvata collected in the Caribbean region and redescribed and figured in Bonnet & Rocha (2011) and Monniot F. (2016). The tunic is transparent and the body wall pale yellow in formalin. Except for the absence of brown pigment and a smaller size (5 cm for the largest), a confusion is possible with A. interrupta inhabiting the same stations.

The distinctive characters are 8 oral lobes with yellow spots, papillae on the prepharyngeal area, the intestine isodiametric in a long double loop (Fig. 3A). The neural gland and the U-shaped dorsal tubercle are distant and the musculature of a similar distribution (Fig 3B).

The geographic distribution of A. curvata is limited to the tropical Western Atlantic (Bonnet & Rocha 2011; Monniot 2016).