(Stimpson, 1852)

Description

External appearance
Solitary. Body globular to ovoid, up to 15 mm in diameter. Test transparent, bearing fibrils and coated with sand, shells, etc.

Characters
Both siphons 4-lobed and placed close together anteriorly. About 32 simple branchial tentacles of variable size. Branchial sac with numerous rows of straight stigmata; four branchial folds on each side; longitudinal bars present. Gut left of branchial sac; stomach distinct, with 20-25 longitudinal folds and a single small liver diverticulum. Several parallel, elongated and cylindrical gonads on each side in mantle wall (3 to 6 on the left, 4 to 8 on the right) (C. mollis morphology).

Habitat
Loosely attached to, or partly embedded in sand or mud; from shallow water to depths of at least 100 metres

Distribution
Arctic-Boreal distribution.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Tunicata
Class Ascidiacea
Order Pleurogona
Suborder Stolidobranchia
Family Styelidae
Genus Cnemidocarpa
Species mollis

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Cnemidocarpa mollis (Stimpson, 1852)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Glandula mollis Stimpson, 1852
Cynthia vestita Alder, 1860
Glandula arenicola Verrill, 1872
Styela vestita Alder & Hancock, 1907

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.

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