(Linnaeus, 1767)

Description

External appearance
Solitary. Body globular to ovoid, attached by base and up to 20 mm in diameter. Test thick and leathery, bearing radially branched spines.

Characters
Both siphons 4-lobed and placed at the top. From 12-16 branched branchial tentacles of variable size. Branchial sac with numerous rows of straight and transversal orientated stigmata; six branchial folds per side; eight longitudinal bars per fold. Gut left of branchial sac; stomach narrow and small, not marked off from the rest of the gut but with many diverticula forming a complex liver. One long and lobed gonad on each side (B. echinata morphology).

Habitat
Attached to hard substrata; from shallow water to depths of about 350 metres.

Distribution
Arctic-Boreal distribution.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Tunicata
Class Ascidiacea
Order Pleurogona
Suborder Stolidobranchia
Family Pyuridae
Genus Boltenia
Species echinata

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Boltenia echinata (Linnaeus, 1767)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Ascidia echinata Linnaeus, 1767
Cyntia echinata Alder, 1850
Halocynthia arctica Hartmeyer, 1903

Alder, J. & A. Hancock 1907. The Brithish Tunicata: an unfinished monograph, volume II, edited by J. Hopkinson. Ray Scoiety, London.

Berril, N.J. 1950. The Tunicata, with an account of the British species. Ray Society, London. 354 pp.

Knight-Jones, E.W. & J.S. Ryland 1990. Hemichordata and Urochordata. In: P.J. Hayward & J.S. Ryland (eds), The Marine Fauna of the British Isles and North-West Europe, vol. 2 Molluscs to chordates, Clarendon Press, Oxford: 872-904.

Millar, R.H. 1966. Tunicata Ascidiacea. Marine invertebrates of Scandinavia, 1: 1-123.

Millar, R.H. 1970. British Ascidians. Synopses of the British Fauna, N.S 1, 1-92.

Berril, N.J., 1950. The Tunicata, with an account of the British species. Ray Society, London. 354 pp.

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