Sea Vase (Ciona robusta)
Common name: sea vase, sea squirt
Scientific name: Ciona intestinalis
Locations: mooring lines, buoys, traps, pilings, floats, salmon pens
Seasonality: available year round
Colors: iridescent yellow
Size: 1" - 4"
Collected: by hand
Quantity: sold by the each
Common name: sea vase, sea squirt
Scientific name: Ciona intestinalis
Locations: mooring lines, buoys, traps, pilings, floats, salmon pens
Seasonality: available year round
Colors: iridescent yellow
Size: 1" - 4"
Collected: by hand
Quantity: sold by the each
Common name: sea vase, sea squirt
Scientific name: Ciona intestinalis
Locations: mooring lines, buoys, traps, pilings, floats, salmon pens
Seasonality: available year round
Colors: iridescent yellow
Size: 1" - 4"
Collected: by hand
Quantity: sold by the each
Tidepool Tim says, "Sea vases are a solitary tunicate that grows abundantly on any benthic structure it can find - from rocks and shells to lobster traps, boat hulls, pilings and floats. It has 2 large siphons on that carry seawater in and out of the the animal which it uses to filter plankton. One carries water in and one water and wastes out. Once the tadpole like larvae have settled and begin to grow they cement themselves to the substrate with some kind of adhesive.
Actually a very primitive chordate - these are the organisms that show a notochord, gill slits, and muscle bands. If you look closely you can see these as stripes along the 'tunic' and can also see their primitive gut. My kids and I like to peel them from rocks and use them as squirt guns on each other! Lots of fun.”
