|
What is it like?
It is a sessile tunicate that forms colonies, with zooids (individuals that are part of a body with colonial organization), which usually measure 1 centimeter. The colonies are fleshy in appearance and the lobes are slightly flattened and arise from a common base. Each lobe has an opening at the end. They are usually semi-transparent, yellow, gray or white in color. It has a characteristic white line in the ciliary furrow (where the cilia are located).
Where does it live?
It attaches itself to hard substrates, from the lower shore up to 200 meters deep.
What does it eat?
They are filter feeders and feed using their siphon.
How does it reproduce?
They are hermaphrodites, usually with single ovaries and testicles in the same animal. The germ cells are transported through ducts to the atrial cavity and from there to the surrounding water, where fertilization takes place.
Is a confusion possible?
It can be confused with Aplidium albicans, but the latter is whiter, and does not have the characteristical white line of A. turbinatum.
Curiosities
· It is also called Sidnyum turbinatum, but this is not currently correct.
· There is much scientific interest in a selective cytotoxic substance it produces called Turbinamide, which has demonstrated a strong and selective cytotoxic effect against neuronal cells.
Taxonomy
Phylum: Chordates, Subphylum: Tunicates, Class: Ascidiacea, Order: Enterogona, Suborder: Aplousobranchia, Family: Polyclinidae, Genus: Aplidium |
