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Sea vomit, Pancake batter tunicate
Ascidian
Sea vomit, Pancake batter tunicate
Didemnum vexillum (Kott, 2002)
WoRMS AphialID
250126
Sample IDs
Quoddy 217B https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCAS106-25;Quoddy 235 https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCAS188-25; Quoddy 354 https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCAS194-25; 25HMSC229_02 https://bench.boldsystems.org/index.php/MAS_DataRetrieval_OpenSpecimen?selectedrecordid=ATCAS197-25;
Collected
Western Isles NB, Campobello Island NB, Southern Shore NS, ROV and SCUBA-hand collection on rock wall, boulders, and wharf pilings, 5-20 m depth.
Distinguishing Features
• Form: thin encrusting colonial tunicate with flat or cylinder outgrowths, the colour can be beige, tan, orange, pink or yellow. The surface is smooth, dense, leathery and often veined.
• Siphon: the oral siphon is short and appears as many fine pores, the atrial siphon opens to cloacal apertures larger holes.
• Spicules: embedded within tunic, star shaped with 9-11 rays, look like white spots on the colony surface.
• Atrial Languet: absent.
Habitat
Most substrates including docks, rocks, and other species. Found 0-80 m depth.
Geographic Range
Native to Japan, it is invasive to the east coast of North America from New York to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the west coast of North America, New Zealand and northern Europe.
Fun Fact
This is considered an invasive species in Atlantic Canada. It grows as a thin, rubbery sheet that can spread over rocks and shellfish beds until it covers an entire section of the seabed like a carpet. These large carpets smother everything underneath and can reshape whole seafloor habitats.
Barcode Distribution
Widespread BIN matching Japan, Churchill, UK, New Zealand, USA (WA, CT, ME), South Korea etc.
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