(Linnaeus, 1767)

Description

External appearance
Solitary. Body nearly cylindrical, reaching up to 100-150 mm. Test soft, gelatinous, transparent and contractile, coloured pale yellow-green, with five longitudinal muscle bands clearly visible in the mantle on each side.

Characters
Oral siphon terminal, with 8 marginal lobes; atrial siphon 6-lobed and located close to the oral siphon. Both siphons bear bright yellow margins and small red ocelli between the lobes .
About 70 simple branchial tentacles of variable size. The branchial sac is narrow; with numerous rows of straight stigmata; no folds; with inner longitudinal vessels and papillae at the intersection with the transverse vessels. Gut loop posterior to branchial sac; stomach distinct, smooth, located on the right side of the body. Gonads on the left side in the gut loop (C. intestinalis morphology, C. intestinalis ocelli).

Habitat
Attached to hard substrata; from shallow water to depths of 1000 metres.

Distribution
Generally found in many parts of the world.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Tunicata
Class Ascidiacea
Order Enterogona
Suborder Aplousobranchia
Family Cionidae
Genus Ciona
Species intestinalis

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Ciona intestinalis (Linnaeus, 1758)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Ascidia intestinalis Linnaeus, 1767
Ascidia canina Müller, 1776
Ascidia pulchella Alder, 1863
Ciona fascicularis Hancock, 1870

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

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

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.

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