Botrylloides leachii | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Subphylum: | Tunicata |
Class: | Ascidiacea |
Order: | Stolidobranchia |
Family: | Styelidae |
Genus: | Botrylloides |
Species: | B. leachii |
Binomial name | |
Botrylloides leachii (Savigny, 1816) | |
Synonyms | |
List
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Botrylloides leachii is a colonial tunicate of the family Styelidae. Its unique methods of propagation and regeneration make it an ideal model organism for use in biological study of development, immunology, stem cells, and regeneration. [1]
Botrylloides leachii is a colonial tunicate and can form a flat gelatinous encrusting sheet or a more massive structure. The individual zooids are about 4 mm (0.2 in) in diameter while the whole colony may reach 15 cm (6 in) or more across. Groups of zooids tend to form pairs of parallel chains; each zooid has its own inhalant siphon but the groups share an exhalant siphon. The tunic is some shade of grey, pink, orange, yellow or white; the siphons have white rims, and the exhalant siphons have white radial streaks. [2] [3]
Botrylloides leachii has a wide distribution, with a number of species previously thought to be separate having been shown to be identical and synonymised with it. Its range includes the Indo-Pacific region, the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Atlantic Ocean including the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. It grows on rock, various hard substrates and large seaweeds, as well as loose on sand and detritus, at depths down to about 30 m (100 ft). [2] [3]
Like all tunicates, Botrylloides leachii is a filter feeder that feeds by drawing water into its interior through the inhalant siphon, filtering out the edible particles with a mucus net, and expelling the water and waste products through the exhalant siphon. The sexes are separate in this species, and the gametes are liberated into the water column. [2] The larvae are planktonic at first but soon settle on the seabed where they undergo metamorphosis into zooids with adult organs. A founding zooid begins to form buds which grow into new zooids, which in turn bud again, and the colony expands. The zooids are connected by a network of blood vessels with minute finger-like processes called "ampullae". In time, the older zooids begin to degrade and become reabsorbed while the colony lives on. [1]
Whole-body regeneration is extremely unusual among chordates, but a colony of Botrylloides leachii can regenerate itself from a small piece of tissue. In a colony where all the zooids have been removed and the only structure that remains is the linking vascular tissue, blood cells aggregate to initiate repairs, white blood cells infiltrate the wounds and macrophage-like cells ingest the debris. Within ten days, the macrophages have disappeared from the circulation and the zooids have regenerated. [4] The ampullae are the seat of the regeneration process; researchers successfully grew 80 out of 95 sections of blood vessel with ampullae attached into new zooids, with a sexually mature zooid developing in about two weeks. [1]
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.
Ascidiacea, commonly known as the ascidians or sea squirts, is a paraphyletic class in the subphylum Tunicata of sac-like marine invertebrate filter feeders. Ascidians are characterized by a tough outer "tunic" made of a polysaccharide.
The Doliolida are an order of small marine chordates of the subphylum Tunicata. They are in the class Thaliacea, which also includes the salps and pyrosomes. The doliolid body is small, typically 1–2 mm long, and barrel-shaped; it features two wide siphons, one at the front and the other at the back end, and eight or nine circular muscle strands reminiscent of barrel bands.
Pyrosomes are free-floating colonial tunicates in family Pyrosomatidae. There are three genera, Pyrosoma, Pyrosomella and Pyrostremma, and eight species. They usually live in the upper layers of the open ocean in warm seas, although some may be found at greater depths.
Botryllus schlosseri is a colonial ascidian tunicate. It is commonly known as the star tunicate, but it also has several other common names, including star ascidian and golden star tunicate. Colonies grow on slow-moving, submerged objects, plants, and animals in nearshore saltwater environments.
Botrylloides violaceus is a colonial ascidian. It is commonly known as the chain tunicate, but has also been called several other common names, including: lined colonial tunicate, orange sheath tunicate, orange tunicate, and violet tunicate. Its native range is in the northwest Pacific from southern China to Japan and Siberia. Colonies grow on solid substrates and consist of individuals arranged in twisting rows. Outside its native range, it is considered an invasive species and is becoming more common in coastal waters of North America and other waters around the world, likely being spread by shipping industries.
Pyrosoma atlanticum is a pelagic species of marine colonial tunicate in the class Thaliacea found in temperate waters worldwide. The name of the genus comes from the Greek words pyros meaning 'fire' and soma meaning 'body', referring to the bright bioluminescence sometimes emitted. The specific epithet atlanticum refers to the Atlantic Ocean, from where the first specimen of the species was collected for scientific description; it was described in 1804 by François Péron, a French naturalist.
Ecteinascidia turbinata, commonly known as the mangrove tunicate, is a species of tunicate in the family Perophoridae. It was described to science in 1880 by William Abbott Herdman. The cancer drug trabectedin can be isolated from this species.
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.
Didemnum molle is a species of colonial tunicate in the family Didemnidae. It is commonly known as the tall urn ascidian, the green barrel sea squirt or the green reef sea-squirt. It is native to the Red Sea and the tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific region.
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.
Perophora viridis, the honeysuckle tunicate, is a species of colonial sea squirt in the genus Perophora found in the tropical western Atlantic Ocean.
Morchellium argus, the red-flake ascidian, is a species of colonial sea squirt, a tunicate in the family Polyclinidae. It is native to shallow water in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, especially round the coasts of Britain.
Polyclinum planum is a compound ascidian commonly known as the elephant ear tunicate. It is an ascidian tunicate in the family Polyclinidae. Ascidians are also known as sea squirts.
Polyandrocarpa is a genus of ascidian tunicates within the family Styelidae.
Stolonica socialis is a species of tunicate or sea squirt in the family Styelidae, commonly known as orange sea grapes. It is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, where it lives on the rocky seabed in shallow water.
Distomus variolosus 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, typically on the stems and fronds of kelp.
Molgula occidentalis is a species of marine invertebrate of the family Molgulidae. The scientific name of the species was validated and published for the first time in 1883 by Traustedt. It is a soft-bodied, intertidal ascidian, sac-like filter feeders in the subphylum tunicate characterized by a hard outer covering known as a “tunic,” abundant in the shallow subtidal and intertidal zones of the Northern Gulf of Mexico, where they establish pseudopopulations.
Aplidium elegans, the sea-strawberry, is a species of colonial sea squirt, a benthic tunicate in the family Polyclinidae and class Ascidiacea. It is native to shallow waters in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. It is also found in between France and the United Kingdom.
Clavelina ossipandae, the skeleton panda sea squirt or skeleton panda ascidian, is a species of colonial ascidian, a group of sessile, marine filter-feeding invertebrates. Originally discovered near Kume Island in Japan by local divers, pictures of the animal attracted attention in the media for its appearance prior to its formal taxonomic description in 2024.