kids encyclopedia robot

Ox heart ascidian facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Polycarpa aurata
Polycarpa Nick Hobgood.jpg
Polycarpa aurata, purple and yellow variant
Seasquirt.jpg
Nudibranch (Nembrotha lineolata) laying an egg spiral on a Polycarpa aurata off the coast of Metinaro, East Timor.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Subphylum:
Class:
Order:
Stolidobranchia
Family:
Styelidae
Genus:
Polycarpa
Species:
P. aurata
Binomial name
Polycarpa aurata
(Quoy & Gaimard, 1834)
Synonyms
  • Ascidia aurata Quoy & Gaimard, 1834
  • Pandocia aurata (Quoy & Gaimard, 1834)
  • Pandocia botryllifera Michaelsen, 1912
  • Pandocia pizoni Hartmeyer, 1909
  • Polycarpa sulcata Herdman, 1882
  • Styela aurata (Quoy & Gaimard, 1834)
  • Styela pneumonodes Sluiter, 1895
  • Styela psoloessa Sluiter, 1890
Tunicate komodo
Gold-mouth sea squirt.

Polycarpa aurata, also known as the ox heart ascidian, the gold-mouth sea squirt or the ink-spot sea squirt, is a species of tunicate in the family Styelidae.

Description

Polycarpa aurata grows to a height of 5 to 15 cm (2 to 6 in). It has an urn-shaped, hollow body with two siphons, one at the top and the other on the side. The body colour of this tunicate is white with purple and orange patches and purple lines. The inside is yellow or orange and this is visible around the rim of the siphons.

Distribution

This species is found in the tropical eastern Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. Its range includes the Philippines, Indonesia and northern Australia. Its depth range is 5 to 50 m (16 to 164 ft).

Biology

Tunicates feed by drawing water in through the branchial siphon at the top, filtering out phytoplankton, bacteria and other food particles, before expelling the water through the atrial siphon at the side. Sometimes hydroids and algae grow on the outside of the tunicate and nudibranchs such as Nembrotha lineolata sometimes feed on it.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Polycarpa aurata para niños

kids search engine
Ox heart ascidian Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.