Chordata
Diplosoma listerianum
(Frog Egg Tunicate)
1. Out of water - Tunicate overgrowing Amathia convoluta (Common sheep's-wool bryozoan) (Steve Vives)
Size
Colony length: to 15cm (6") Colony thickness 1-2mm
Recognition Characters
Colonial tunicate resembles thin, soft, slimy, gelatinous mass and is structureless. Arrangement of compact greenish-grey zooids in it resembles the appearance and texture of an amphibian egg mass. Zooids are not arrange in clear-cut systems but the atrial siphons open into extensive common chambers (cloacal cavities) within the tunic.
Color
Tunic is somewhat transparent or colorless.
Habitat & Depth
Overgrows other fouling organisms such as hydroids and bryozoans. Can also grow directly on rocks or undersurfaces of floating docks.
Distribution at GRNMS
Rare.
Geographic Range
Behavior & Notes
Synonyms
Kaplan 1988