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Golden star tunicate
Ascidian
Golden star tunicate
Botryllus schlosseri (Pallas, 1766)
WoRMS AphialID
103862
Sample IDs
HMSC174-01649 https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCAS064-24; Quoddy 251,https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCAS166-25; 25HMSC229_05B https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCAS186-25
Collected
Grand Manan NB, Passamaquoddy Bay NB, Southern Shore NS, hand collection from submerged dock tires and wharf pilings, and ROV collection on kelp, 8 m depth.
Distinguishing Features
• Form: flat thickly encrusting colonial tunicate. The zooids are arranged in star or flower-shaped systems, and the colour varies from orange, yellow, red, greenish grey, violet to dark grey, often contrasting colours.
• Siphons: circular/elliptical systems, the atrial siphons empty into a common central cloaca with a single opening.
• Spicules: absent.
• Atrial Languet: simple.
Habitat
Usually shallow, sheltered environments, euryhaline salinites to 18ppt. Found on pilings, eelgrass, seaweeds, ascidian tests and any hard substrate, lower intertidal to 200 m depth.
Geographic Range
Believed to be native to the Mediterranean and possibly the east coast of the USA, it is invasive to Atlantic Canada, the west coast of North America, Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Asia, Australia and oceanic islands such as Bermuda, the Azores and New Zealand.
Fun Fact
Its common name comes from the tiny flowers or stars repeated along its surface, this pattern is due to the zooids arranged with a shared central opening. The shared opening allows the tunicate to be more efficient when filter feeding and is one of the reasons it can outcompete native species.
Barcode Distribution
BIN matching Israel, Canada, Ireland, Turkey, USA, Germany, Norway, South Korea, Italy, Spain, UK, Australia and Denmark.
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