Ascidia sydneiensis Stimpson, 1855

Lambert, Gretchen, Lee, Serina Siew-Chen & Teo, Serena Lay-Ming, 2021, Ascidians collected during the 2013 Singapore Strait International Marine Biodiversity Workshop, Zootaxa 4933 (1), pp. 1-38 : 14

Ascidia sydneiensis Stimpson, 1855

Fig. 5A, B

Descending limb of intestine very distended. Musculature the typical dense short horizontal fibers around the perimeter of the right side.

#1228A, small specimen on a bivalve, 1 cm long out of the tunic.

#2591, juvenile, contracted ( Fig. 5A ), about 1.5 cm in length; tunic covered with short clear tubercles ( Fig. 5B ) as described by Tokioka (1953), which usually disappear in older larger specimens with thick tunic. Parasitic copepod in branchial sac (not visible in Fig. 5A ), its length with appendages 3 mm.

Widely distributed and common throughout warm waters of the west Pacific: Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, French Polynesia, Mozambique, New Caledonia, Palau, Australia, Japan, Senegal, Panama (Caribbean and Pacific), Guadeloupe, Martinique, Brazil. Considered introduced in Brazil, the Caribbean and other disjunct locations such as Hawaii, Guam and Galápagos.

Detailed references with illustrations: Van Name (1945), Millar (1956, 1975), Kott & Goodbody (1982), Kott (1985), Monniot C. (1983a, 1987a), Monniot C. & Monniot F. (1987), Abbott et al. (1997), Bonnet & Rocha (2011a, 2011b), Bonnet et al. (2013), Lee et al. (2013), Monniot F. (2018a). Other references: Tokioka (1953, 1970), Monniot C. et al. (1985), Monniot C. (1997), Rocha & Nasser (1998), Monniot F. & Monniot C. (2001), Rocha & Costa (2005), Rocha et al. (2005), Bonnet et al. (2013), Lee et al. (2016), Lambert (2003, 2019),

Figures

FIGURE 5. A, B: Ascidia sydneiensis about 1.5 cm in length. A: left side in tunic; B: closeup of a few clear tunic tubercles. C, D: Ascidia gemmata 7.9 cm in length in tunic (C) and left side, 7.2 cm long with tunic removed (D); E–G: Phallusia arabica. E: three individuals, largest 5.5 cm in length; F: left side of another individual 2.9 cm in length out of tunic; G: closeup of tunic blood vessels.