Ecteinascidia thurstoni Herdman, 1890

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 : 17

Ecteinascidia thurstoni Herdman, 1890 NEW RECORD

Figure 6E

Elongate zooids usually pale orange in color, both siphons short, close together at anterior end of body. Orange band around siphons, blue spots in life between the siphons.

#2640, longest zooid 10 mm. Orange band around siphons, blue spots in life, not visible in fixed zooids. No orange spots scattered on body wall as in #4613. Sixteen rows of stigmata on right, 17 rows on left. About 50 oral tentacles. Cluster of poorly developed testes in curve of gut in some zooids.

#4613, zooids 6 mm in length; a few scattered orange spots on body wall visible through the transparent tunic. Seven oral lobes, six atrial lobes. Sixteen rows of stigmata on right, 15–16 on left (posterior-most row is dividing). A cluster of immature testes in curve of gut.

Distribution: Sri Lanka, Australia, Bahrain, Thailand, South Africa, Red Sea, Israel (Mediterranean).

Detailed descriptions with illustrations: Kott (1985), Monniot C. & Monniot F. (1997). Other references: Monniot C. et al. (2001), Gab–Alla (2008), Chavanich et al. (2009), Shenkar & Loya (2009).

Figures

FIGURE 6. A: Rhodosoma turcicum 3 cm in length; B–D: Ecteinascidia nexa zooid 3 mm in length. B: living zooid; C, D same zooid preserved. C: right side; D: left side. E: Ecteinascidia thurstoni, two zooids 6 mm in length; F: Perophora modificata, scale bar 4 mm; G: Perophora multiclathrata 3 mm in diameter.