POLYCITORIDAE, Michaelsen, 1904

Mead, A., Carlton, J. T., Griffiths, C. L. & Rius, M., 2011, Introduced and cryptogenic marine and estuarine species of South Africa, Journal of Natural History 45 (39 - 40), pp. 2463-2524 : 2502

Family POLYCITORIDAE

Cystodytes dellechiajei (Della Valle, 1877) Cryptogenic

An ascidian of unknown origin, first reported in South Africa by Millar (1962) from the Mozambique border. Monniot et al. (2001) found it in False Bay on the southwest coast and in KwaZulu-Natal (Isipingo and Sodwana Bay) on the east coast. This widespread species can be found in warm waters of other world regions, such as the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea ( Monniot et al. 2001). Interestingly, as with the bryozoan Bugula dentata , there is an important degree of morphological variability among specimens found in different regions, although they are still considered to be conspecific ( Monniot et al. 2001).