Chordata

Didemnum sp.

1. In situ (Greg McFall)

2. In situ (Greg McFall)

3. In situ (Greg McFall)

4. In situ (Greg McFall)

5. In situ (Danny Gleason)

6. Out of Water (Danny Gleason)

7. Out of water (Steve Vives)

Size

Colony height: 0.5cm (0.15") Colony width: reaching 20cm (8"), highly variable

Recognition Characters

Encrusting colonies of grouped individual tunicates which form thin meandering mats.

Color

White

Habitat & Depth

Encrust other organisms such as sponges, other tunicates, and hydroids and bryozoans. Also hard bottoms, dead coral, rocks and shipwrecks. To 50m.

Distribution at GRNMS

Common. Encrust a variety of other sessile organisms.

Geographic Range

North Carolina south to Florida, Caribbean and West Indies

Behavior & Notes

Synonyms

References

Ruppert and Fox 1988