The Challenger expedition of 1872–1876 was a scientific programme that made many discoveries to lay the foundation of oceanography. The expedition was named after the naval vessel that undertook the trip, HMS Challenger.
HMS Challenger was a Pearl-class corvette of the Royal Navy launched on 13 February 1858 at the Woolwich Dockyard. She served the flagship of the Australia Station between 1866 and 1870.
Pyura is a large genus of sessile ascidians that live in coastal waters at depths of up to 80 m (260 feet). Like all ascidians, Pyura are filter feeders. A few species, including Pyura chilensis are commercially fished.
Didemnum is a genus of colonial tunicates in the family Didemnidae. It is the most speciose genus in the didemnid family. Species in this genus often have small calcareous spicules embedded in the tunic and form irregular or lobed colonies. Some Didemnum species, including Didemnum vexillum and Didemnum perlucidem are considered invasive species. In early 2006, Didemnum vexillum was found covering a 230 km2 area of cobble habitat in Georges Bank off the coast of New England, and is classified as an invasive species of greatest concern in coastal areas throughout Europe, New Zealand, and North America. Didemnum sp. invasions have also been recorded in Canada, the Mediterranean, and the Netherlands.
Styela clava is a solitary, subtidal ascidian tunicate. It has a variety of common names such as the stalked sea squirt, clubbed tunicate, Asian tunicate, leathery sea squirt, or rough sea squirt. As its common names suggest, S. clava is club-shaped with an elongated oval body and a long peduncle for attaching to a substrate. Although native to the northwestern waters of the Pacific Ocean, since the 1900s, S. clava has become an increasingly successful invasive species outside of its native range. It is edible.
Edward John Miers FZS FLS was a British zoologist and curator of the crustacean collection at the Natural History Museum in London. He contributed to the scientific reports from the Challenger expedition of 1872–1876, and described 32 new genera and at least 260 new species and subspecies of decapod crustaceans, along with four genera and 72 new species in other orders.
Paracuneus immaculatus is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Drilliidae.
Coralliophila aedonia is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.
Pyura stolonifera, commonly known in South Africa as "red bait", is a sessile ascidian, or sea squirt, that lives in coastal waters attached to rocks or artificial structures. Sea squirts are named for their habit of squirting a stream of water from their exhalant siphons when touched at low tide.
Clavelina robusta is a species of tunicate, in the genus Clavelina. Like all ascidians, these sessile animals are filter feeders.
Pycnoclavella diminuta, known as the white-spotted sea squirt, white-spot ascidian, and white-spotted ascidian, is a species of tunicate, in the genus Pycnoclavella. Like all ascidians, these sessile animals are filter feeders.
Perophora is a sea squirt genus in the family Perophoridae. Most species are found in shallow warm water but a few are found in higher latitudes. A colony consists of a number of zooids which bud off from a long slender stolon.
Patricia Mather was an Australian zoologist and taxonomist known for her research into sea squirts. She became a leader in Australian marine science and internationally achieved status through her work on the Ascidiacea. She has published more than 150 papers including her major monograph on the "Australian Ascidiacea".
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.
The bony-eared assfish is a bathypelagic species of cusk-eel found in tropical and sub-tropical oceans at depths of from 1,171 to 4,415 metres. It has been found as far north as Queen Charlotte Sound off British Columbia's coast. This species grows to a length of 37.5 centimetres (14.8 in) SL. It is the only known member of its genus Acanthonus.
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.
Diloma concameratum, common name the speckled periwinkle, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Trochidae, the top snails.
Polyandrocarpa is a genus of ascidian tunicates within the family Styelidae.
Symplegma viride is a species of ascidian tunicates in the family Styelidae.
Sycozoa cerebriformis, is a sea squirt in the family Holozoidae, first described by Jean René Constant Quoy and Joseph Paul Gaimard in 1834 as Aplidie cerebriforme. The taxonomic decision which determined the name, Sycozoa cerebriformis, and the species' synonymy was given by Patricia Kott in 1990.
