Clavelina huntsmani Van Name, 1931

Lambert, Gretchen, 2019, The Ascidiacea collected during the 2017 British Columbia Hakai MarineGEO BioBlitz, Zootaxa 4657 (3), pp. 401-436 : 416

Clavelina huntsmani Van Name, 1931

Figure 9A

IHAK 2 BHAK 0079 UF 2447. Calvert Island, North Beach, east end low intertidal boulder field, shallow Scuba.

IHAK 28 BHAK 1690 UF 2517. Calvert Island , Second Beach, snorkel, 5 m.

MHAK 7 BHAK 0514 UF 2456. West Beach, boulder field. Small colony, three zooids.

An excellent detailed description of this species is given by Van Name (1945), a repeat of his original 1931 description. He was obviously impressed with the zooids, and in describing the prominent dorsal and ventral pink lines in the otherwise transparent thorax of each zooid ( Fig. 9A ), he stated that they gave “the colony a very handsome appearance”. According to Van Name (1945) the colonies may comprise up to hundreds of zooids up to about 4 cm in length. Distribution: British Columbia to northern Mexico ( Lamb & Hanby 2005, who also include a beautiful photo of a subtidal colony in situ).

Figures

FIGURE 9. Aplousobranchia. A–D: Clavelinidae. A: Clavelina huntsmani. B–D: Pycnoclavella stanleyi. B: expanded orange thoraxes extended beyond sandy tubes. C: thoraxes partially contracted. Photo includes four zooids of orange Metandrocarpa taylori. D: zooids fully contracted; only a bit of orange is visible. E, F: Euherdmaniidae, Euherdmania claviformis. E: zooids fully retracted into long sand-encrusted tubes. F: In this colony the anterior portions of the tubes not sand-encrusted, though the colorless zooid thoraxes are partially contracted. Scale bars: A, 7 mm; B, 2 mm; C, 4 mm; D, 1 cm; E, 1.2 cm; F, 1 cm. A, B, D, F photos by G. Paulay.