Pycnoclavella atlantica Pérez-Portela et al., 2007

Pérez-Portela, R., Goodwin, C. E., Picton, B. E. & Turon, X., 2010, Pycnoclavella stolonialis n. sp. (Tunicata: Ascidiacea), with phylogenetic and distributional remarks on the genus in Europe, Zootaxa 2407 (1), pp. 51-66 : 58

Pycnoclavella atlantica Pérez-Portela et al., 2007

To date P. atlantica had only been recorded from under the kelp canopy in Ría de Ferrol. The species is common but not abundant in Sagres and São Viçente, where the colonies form discrete patches, while in NW Spain they tend to coalesce forming a carpet and to be intermingled with colonies of P. producta (Pérez- Portela et al. 2007a).

The colonies analyzed here from Portugal showed no morphological differences with the original description of the species made on colonies from NW Spain. Larvae of colonies collected showed their distinctive anterior process separated from the main part of the larval trunk by a shallow furrow in the dorsal zone. However, the species occupied different habitat in southern Portuguese localities, where it was found on shaded vertical walls between 10 and 20 m of depth, while in NW Spain it was recorded under the kelp canopy at shallower depths ( Pérez-Portela et al. 2007a). All the colonies collected from southern Portugal during June 2008 showed visible orange larvae incubated in the peribranchial cavity .