Tidepooling and The Tunicate

www.bluewaterventures.org

The Creature Featured today is the Monterey Stalked Tunicate (Styela montereyensis).  Also known as sea squirts,  the tunicates are  more linked to humans than those octopus with clever thoughts,  crabs with their fancy  jointed appendages or  sea hares with their  joy of sex (mass orgies).   In fact, they belong to a group of  animals known as the Urochordates, a subphylum of  phylum  Chordata, animals with backbones.  In their larval form tunicates have  a primitive spinal cord, stomach and heart .  As  free swimming youngsters,  they sport  an appearance resembling  a  tiny  tadpole or human embryo.  As adults, Styela montereyensis claim a sedentary life attached to a surge channel or the  ocean floor filtering plankton through their dual siphons.  Check out http://www.bluewaterventures.org for our next naturalist-led adventure.

Sea Butterfly Discovery: Corolla spectabilis

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Here’s an unusual find, the internal shell structure of a sea butterfly, Corolla spectabilis. As the name implies this pelagic gelatinous snail can swim rapidly through the water as it escapes its predators. To feed, it oozes a muscus snare to capture its planktonic prey. We found this while exploring Greyhound Rock. Winter offers excellent tides that may reveal unusual sea creatures.

To learn more about this interesting species found in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary check out: http://jellieszone.com/corolla.htm