Blue Club Tunicate

Q: Where can you find Blue Club Tunicate?

Blue Club Tunicate can be found in: Bali, Malaysia East, Taiwan, Brunei, China, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan South, Indo-Pacific West, Australia East, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Indo-Pacific, Papua New Guinea, Tanzania, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, Mozambique, Palau, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Micronesia.

Rhopalaea crassa

More photos in Seabook

Max Size

See in App

Max Weight

—

Max Depth

260 m

Rhopalaea crassa is a species of tunicate belonging to the family Diazonidae.

Description

Rhopalaea crassa can reach a length of about 4 cm. It has an urn-shaped, hollow body with two siphons, one at the top and the other on the side. The body colour of this tunicate is from white to transparent blue (sometimes with dark rim of the siphons). Tunicates feed by drawing water in through the branchial siphon at the top, filtering out phytoplankton, bacteria and other food particles, before expelling the water through the atrial siphon at the side.

Distribution

This species can be found in the Indo-West Pacific.

Habitat

It lives in crevices or between coral branches. It is found in marine caves and fringing reefs. Members of the class Ascidiacea are hermaphroditic. Both cross- and self-fertilization is typical. Life cycle: Eggs develop into lecithotrophic larva before metamorphosing into benthic adults. It feeds on detritus and suspended zooplankton. It is often fed upon by Nembrotha Sea Slug.