A tunicate is an exclusively marine invertebrate animal, a member of the subphylum Tunicata. This grouping is part of the Chordata, a phylum which includes all animals with dorsal nerve cords and notochords. The subphylum was at one time called Urochordata, and the term urochordates is still sometimes used for these animals. They are the only chordates that have lost their myomeric segmentation, with the possible exception of the seriation of the gill slits. However, doliolids still display segmentation of the muscle bands.
Halocynthia is a genus of ascidian tunicates in the family Pyuridae. Species such as H. roretzi are eaten in parts of Asia as a delicacy.
Corella willmeriana is a solitary tunicate in the family Corellidae. It is native to the eastern Pacific Ocean where it lives on the seabed at depths down to about 75 m (250 ft) between Alaska and California.
Styela montereyensis, also called the stalked tunicate, Monterey stalked tunicate, and the long-stalked sea squirt is a solitary ascidian tunicate. It has a cylindrical, yellow to dark reddish-brown body and a thin trunk that anchors it to rocks. It is found in subtidal areas of the western coast of North America from Vancouver Island to Baja California.
Atriolum robustum is a colonial tunicate or sea squirt in the family Didemnidae. It is native to the western and central Indo-Pacific where it is usually found anchored to a hard surface in shallow water.
Polycarpa aurata, also known as the ox heart ascidian, the gold-mouth sea squirt or the ink-spot sea squirt, is a species of tunicate in the family Styelidae.
Didemnum vexillum is a species of colonial tunicate in the family Didemnidae. It is commonly called sea vomit, marine vomit, pancake batter tunicate, or carpet sea squirt. It is thought to be native to Japan, but it has been reported as an invasive species in a number of places in Europe, North America and New Zealand. It is sometimes given the nickname "D. vex" because of the vexing way in which it dominates marine ecosystems when introduced into new locations; however, the species epithet vexillum actually derives from the Latin word for flag, and the species was so named because of the way colonies' long tendrils appear to wave in the water like a flag.
Ciona savignyi is a marine animal sometimes known as the Pacific transparent sea squirt or solitary sea squirt. It is a species of tunicates in the family Cionidae. It is found in shallow waters around Japan and has spread to the west coast of North America where it is regarded as an invasive species.
Perophora viridis, the honeysuckle tunicate, is a species of colonial sea squirt in the genus Perophora found in the tropical western Atlantic Ocean.
Molgula oculata, commonly known as the sea grape, is a species of solitary tunicate in the family Molgulidae. It is native to the north eastern Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. The specific name oculata means "having eyes"; the species has orifices which "seem like dark eyes within a spectacle-formed frame".
Polycarpa fibrosa is a species of tunicate in the family Styelidae. It is brown and globular and its outer surface is covered with a mat of fibrils. It normally lies buried in soft sediment on the seabed with only its two siphons protruding. It occurs in the Arctic Ocean and northern Atlantic Ocean. P. fibrosa was first identified and described by the American malacologist William Stimpson in 1852.
Polycarpa pomaria is a species of tunicate or sea squirt in the family Styelidae. It is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean where it lives on the seabed at depths down to about 450 metres (1,500 ft).
Dendrodoa grossularia is a species of tunicate or sea squirt in the family Styelidae, commonly known as the baked bean ascidian. It is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean where it is common in shallow water and on the lower shore in exposed rocky sites.
Boltenia is a genus of ascidian tunicates in the family Pyuridae.
Corella eumyota, the orange-tipped sea squirt, is a solitary tunicate in the family Corellidae. It is native to the Southern Ocean, the Antarctic, South America, southern Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and has been introduced into European waters where it has become invasive.
Cnemidocarpa finmarkiensis is a species of solitary ascidian tunicate in the family Styelidae. Common names include broad base sea squirt, orange sea squirt, red sea squirt, shiny orange sea squirt, shiny red tunicate and Finmark's tunicate. It is native to shallow waters in the northern and northeastern Pacific Ocean.
Pyura haustor is a species of sessile ascidian, or sea squirt, that lives in coastal waters in the north-eastern Pacific Ocean, attached to rocks or artificial structures. Common names for this species include the wrinkled seapump, the wrinkled sea squirt and the warty tunicate.
Boltenia echinata, commonly known as the cactus sea squirt, is a species of tunicate, a marine invertebrate in the genus Boltenia of the family Pyuridae. It is native to the Arctic Ocean and the northern Atlantic Ocean.
Halocynthia igaboja, commonly known as sea hedgehog, bristly tunicate or spiny sea squirt, is a species of tunicate in the family Pyuridae. It is native to the northeastern Pacific Ocean. This species was first described in 1906 by the Japanese marine biologist Asajiro Oka, who gave it the name Cynthia ritteri. It was later transferred to the genus Halocynthia.
