Cnemidocarpa finmarkiensis (Kaier, 1893)

Lambert, Gretchen, 2019, The Ascidiacea collected during the 2017 British Columbia Hakai MarineGEO BioBlitz, Zootaxa 4657 (3), pp. 401-436 : 421

Cnemidocarpa finmarkiensis (Kaier, 1893)

Figure 11A

IHAK 7 West Beach, south side, boulder field, low intertidal, one very small specimen.

IHAK 12 BHAK 0604, 0605, 0606 UF 2462, 2463, 2464 Rocky intertidal across small bay from lab. Under rocks, common but mostly small. One parasitic copepod from specimen 0604 fixed separately as voucher BHAK 0619.

IHAK 18 BHAK 0646, 0647 UF 2496, 2497. Under lab dock.

IHAK 60 Rattenbury Pinnacle, Scuba, 17–20 m, one small specimen.

XHAK 1 Maey Channel ARMS 7.3 m. Two very small specimens on plate.

XHAK 3 BHAK 1612 UF 4117. Mercury Islet ARMS, 7.3 m. Three specimens on plates.

XHAK 8 Westbeach ARMS 5 m. Several small on plates.

The tunic of this beautiful small species is always a shiny red or orangeish red, never overgrown by any epibionts even at the edges. It attains no more than 3–4 cm in width, and slightly less in height, though when disturbed the body wall muscles can contract it to an almost flat mass. The siphons are very short, both four-lobed. The tunic is thin but tough. Van Name (1945) gives a detailed morphology.

This is a circumpolar species in the far north ( Van Name 1945). In the North Pacific it is common from Alaska to Washington, and rarely encountered as far south as northern California ( Van Name 1945; Abbott & Newberry 1980; Lamb & Hanby 2005).

Figures

FIGURE 11. Styelidae. A: Cnemidocarpa finmarkiensis about 2 cm in width; B: Metandrocarpa dura; C: M. taylori; D: Styela gibbsii 1.7 cm in length; E: S. montereyensis, longest one 8 cm; F: S. truncata 2 cm in length. Scale bars: B, 1 mm; C, 2.5 mm. A and F photos by G. Paulay.