Ascidiacea
Sign in to saveAscidiacea, commonly known as the ascidians or sea squirts, is a paraphyletic class in the subphylum Tunicata of sac-like marine invertebrate filter feeders. Ascidians are characterized by a tough outer test or "tunic" made of the polysaccharide cellulose.
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Ascidians, commonly called sea squirts, are small sac-shaped marine animals that filter food from seawater and are covered with a tough, cellulose-based outer layer called a tunic. They are scientifically important as members of the tunicates, a group that helps us understand the evolutionary history of vertebrates, though they themselves are invertebrates.
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23 sectionsContents
- Anatomy
- Digestive system
- Circulatory system
- Nervous system
- Life history
- Direct development in ascidians
- Colonial species
- Sexual reproduction
- Fertilization
- Promotion of out-crossing
- Asexual reproduction
- DNA repair
- Ecology
- Evolution
- Fossil record
- Phylogeny
- Uses
- Culinary
- Model organisms for research
- References
- Citations
- General and cited references
- External links
Ascidiacea, commonly known as the ascidians or sea squirts, is a paraphyletic class in the subphylum Tunicata of sac-like marine invertebrate filter feeders. Ascidians are characterized by a tough outer test or "tunic" made of the polysaccharide cellulose.
Ascidians are found all over the world, usually in shallow water with salinities over 2.5%. While members of the Thaliacea (salps, doliolids and pyrosomes) and Appendicularia (larvaceans) swim freely like plankton, sea squirts are sessile animals after their larval phase: they then remain firmly attached to their substratum, such as rocks and shells.