Dear Lucie,
I have collected this organism before from the Marlborough Sounds. It is relatively common on both artificial and natural substrata. Identification of Didemnum species can be difficult at the best of times, and certainly positive identification cannot be done from a photograph! Zooids certainly, and spicules often, are common to the Didemnidae. If it is the species I have seen before, it is much more ridged in it's morphology than D. vexillum.
I suggest you consult Millar, R.H. (1982). The marine fauna of New Zealand: Ascidiacea. New Zealand Oceanographic Memoir 85(114pp) and Kott, P. (2001). The Australian ascidiacea Pt 4, Didemnidae. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 47(1): 1-410. to help you determine it's identity. Alternatively contact Kirsty Smith at Cawthron and have it included with her specimens from the Marlborough Sounds for identification & genetic bar coding.
Cheers,
Mike
Marine Ecologist
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA)
P.O. Box Nelson, New Zealand
Ph +64-3-548 1715, DDI +64-3-545 7743, Fax +64-3-548 1716
>>> Lu Bizzo <[log in to unmask]> 21/05/2009 1:55 p.m. >>>
I am trying to identify this species (probably a Didemnum sp., see picture)
collected this month in the Marlborough Sounds in New-Zelande, around a
mussel line.
It is pink/orange colour, looks like a brain, hard (like didemnum vexillum) ; see
picture attached. It has some spicules and zooids.
Does anybody know this species or have already seen it anywhere else ?
Thank you for your help.
Lucie
NIWA is the trading name of the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research Ltd.
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