Aplidium, Savigny, 1816

Kott, Patricia, 2008, Ascidiacea (Tunicata) from deep waters of the continental shelf of Western Australia, Journal of Natural History 42 (15 - 16), pp. 1103-1217 : 1163-1164

Aplidium ? sp. 1

Distribution

Record: Western Australia CSIRO SS/05 (Point D’ Entrecasteaux, Stn 18, 100 m, 21.11.05, QM G328435).

Remarks

The colony is a large, irregular sandy slab about 2 cm thick with delicate threadlike zooids opening on both sides. Between the sand grains the test is seen to be pink and the preservative is also stained a pink-orange colour. The zooids are parallel at the surface but criss-cross one another in the centre. At the surface they appear to be in circles of about 10 around a central common cloacal aperture but this arrangement is obscured by sand. Also, sand has been forced into the branchial sacs of the zooids and the apart from what appears to be an atrial lip (bidentate at the tip), atrial apertures and the branchial sacs of the zooids are mutilated. Five stomach folds were detected in the stomach wall. This specimen is unidentifiable.