Tunicates Good or Bad?

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Tunicates are some of my favorite creatures up here and we have alot of them, although it's true that most people don't even notice them or even know what they are. As for invasive encrusting tunicates, I keep having reoccuring visions (relax, relax) of well-meaning-but-stupid divers scraping our local walls clean of native species that look almost exactly like the "evil" invasive ones. Maybe Ill put on a little mask and some tights and hand out information pamphlets at local dive sites.
 
archman:
... I remember that the consensus on that critter was inconclusive.

If this pic hasn't been posted before, it looks like a solitary tunicate... sort of. I need a closeup.

It's no piece of blue plastic :05: Here's a close-up of one. I shot this picture of a blue tunicate during our July trip to Costa Rica. The shot was taken at a site named Tortugas in the Gulf of Popagayo in the NW Pacific province of Guanacaste. You can find these all over the rocks ... usually in very loose aggregrations (not a tight colony as shown above). The common name used by the dive masters is "Blue Sea Squirt".
 
Oh yeah, that's a tunicate. Both siphons are visible. Probably a solitary form. "Sea Squirt" is a common name for a tunicate. So is "Sea Pork". Why didn't you post the closeup the first time around?
 
archman:
Oh yeah, that's a tunicate. Both siphons are visible. Probably a solitary form.

I think it's some type of variant of Rhopalaea found on the Pacific side of Central/South America. I've never been able to identify it conclusively.

archman:
Why didn't you post the closeup the first time around?

A different user posted the other pic :05:
 
archman:
I could swear I've seen this photo before... was it posted at an earlier date? If so, whatever we said last time would be appropriate. I remember that the consensus on that critter was inconclusive.

If this pic hasn't been posted before, it looks like a solitary tunicate... sort of. I need a closeup. It could also be a colonial tunicate (all by itself), or even a sponge. Caribbean sponges aren't usually this colour, however. The lack of any sorts of visible markings and the elongate form leans me most towards a solitary tunicate, like Rhopalaea or Ascidia. Ha, maybe it's a piece of plastic.

Busted! LOL
 
gangrel441:
Depends on how non-scientific you want to get. :)

Animals.

Invertibrates.

Most animals in their phylum are vertibrates. Tunicates are among the most complex inverts in the sea. They have a central nervous system.

The ones in your picture don't look much like the Blue Bell Tunicates in Humann's book, but they sure match the description. He uses the term "dense blue" in the description, but the pic he has in the book is more of a purple. Then again, I am partially color blind. :D

I would say Blue Bell is probably what you have there...

Cool... This is what I was looking for. - Thanks for all of the responses so far, especially archman.

I read the whole thread... They have brains and all huh... Wow.

They are cool to look at, and they are all over this ship, along with a lot of orange cup coral. But I'll save that for another question.

So tunicates don't hurt the ship, that's good.

Now our captain, says that they aren't "supposed to be in this part of the ocean"

So... how do they get here (Florida) ? Were they somehow "attached" to the ship already before they sank it? or what?
 
howarde:
So these tunicates are all over the Captain Tony in Boynton Beach, FL.

What's the deal with tunicates? Are they good, bad, indifferent? Are they like a weed of the sea?

Is this photo a larval stage, and what happens when it grows up?

Thanks.



What's shown in the picture is what we in the Pac NW know as "lightbulb ascidian" ... scientific name Clavalina Huntsmani.

Tunicates are typically harmless when they are where they're supposed to be ... and can wreak havoc with the balance of the marine environment when they are where they're not supposed to be.

The Puget Sound area is currently dealing with an invasive tunicate that was brought here in the ballast of ships ... from Korea. It's quite damaging. You can read an account of a diver who is involved in an eradication program here ...

http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=1340436&postcount=3

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
NWGratefulDiver:
What's shown in the picture is what we in the Pac NW know as "lightbulb ascidian" ... scientific name Clavalina Huntsmani.

Tunicates are typically harmless when they are where they're supposed to be ... and can wreak havoc with the balance of the marine environment when they are where they're not supposed to be.

The Puget Sound area is currently dealing with an invasive tunicate that was brought here in the ballast of ships ... from Korea. It's quite damaging. You can read an account of a diver who was involved in an eradication program here ...

http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=1340436&postcount=3

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Thanks Bob... I did read that thread, but I didn't think that these tunicates were the same thing. I saw another thread, about New England tunicates, but they kind of looked like (for lack of a better word) SNOT.
 
archman:
They can also reverse their heartbeat, which we can't do. Cute, huh?
By reverse their heartbeat, do you mean that they reverse the flow of blood? What is the purpose for that?
 
It was posted before, and the results were inconclusive. Just figured since we are already discussing tunicates, that I'd give it another shot. :wink:

Someone on our trip knew conclusively what it was, but I don't have contact with that person. I know it is not a sponge, it is a more unusual critter. It is only an inch tall max full grown, and is found in the Pacific off of Costa Rica.

I think Solitary Tunicate is probably the best answer I have seen so far...I had not done Creature ID training before that trip, otherwise I may have figured it out then...
 
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