Sycozoa sigillinoides Lesson, 1830

Kott, Patricia, 2006, Observations on non-didemnid ascidians from Australian waters (1), Journal of Natural History 40 (3 - 4), pp. 169-234 : 188-189

Sycozoa sigillinoides Lesson, 1830

Sycozoa sigillinoides Lesson 1830, p 436 . Kott 1990a, p 153 and synonymy.

Distribution

Previously recorded (see Kott 1990a): South Australia (S. Spencer Gulf); Tasmania (St Helen’s and Montague I.). Magellanic area ; Falkland Is ; Kerguelen , Heard I.; Macquarie I.; Chatham I.; New Zealand and the Antarctic. New records: Tasmania ( Tasman Peninsula , 20–22 m, SAM E3247 ), Tasmanian Canyons ( King I. Canyons , 249 m; Banks Strait , 168 m; Ling Hole , 163 m, 174 m; Pieman Canyon , 173–176 m).

Description

The newly recorded specimen from the Tasman Peninsula is a stiff, narrow stalk, with stiff annular thickenings at intervals. It has two short terminal branches, each bearing a small mushroom-shaped head with vertical double rows of zooids and a terminal common cloacal aperture.

Remarks

Australian records of this species are few, but the new records are from Tasmania within the range previously recorded. The newly recorded specimens (taken in April) are either long wiry headless stalks or stalks with very small (regenerating) heads. Millar (1960) reported headless stalks in May, June, and July; stalks with regenerating heads in December, March, May, June, and July; and sexual reproduction at its peak in March. The regenerating post-reproductive stalks of the newly recorded specimens (taken in April) are within this timeframe. The presence of isolated heads of this species in the plankton of the tropical Atlantic and Pacific (see Kott 1990a) has already been reported.