Salpinae Lahille 1888

All Biocode files are based on field identifications to the best of the researcher’s ability at the time.

All Biocode files are based on field identifications to the best of the researcher’s ability at the time.

All Biocode files are based on field identifications to the best of the researcher’s ability at the time.

All Biocode files are based on field identifications to the best of the researcher’s ability at the time.

All Biocode files are based on field identifications to the best of the researcher’s ability at the time.

This is the cloned, sexual phase of a pelagic tunicate. The individuals, each a sequential hermaphrodite, lie in a double chain oriented back to back. Eventually the chain will break apart and each individual will sexually produce an asexual solitary salp. Inconceivably large numbers of aggregate salps can cover hundreds of square miles of ocean.

All Biocode files are based on field identifications to the best of the researcher’s ability at the time.

During the season of upwelling these pelagic tunicates, salps, may be swept into the outer bay filtering plankton as they swim. Tunicates, our cousins, are in the Phylum Chordata. This is the solitary phase; the ropelike chain is the cloned, sexual, aggregate phase that later will be extruded, often several hundred individuals.

All Biocode files are based on field identifications to the best of the researcher’s ability at the time.

All Biocode files are based on field identifications to the best of the researcher’s ability at the time.