Hi Gabrielle,
The Ciona larva will be pink and have long tails and an elongated head
as Aimee detailed in her e-mail.
Corella parallelogramma embryos will be crystal clear. They will be
similar to this Ascidia mentula embryo.
The Botryllus schlosseri larvae will be about 0.5mm, at least 10X as
big as Ciona intestinalis, and Corella parallelogramma, and will settle
almost immediately. Where are you obtaining your samples? I doubt
that you will get any Botryllus schlosseri larvae unless you are
collecting near the adults. They are rarely in plankton tows.
Botryllus schlosseri will look something like this Botrylloides larva,
the ampullae are really apparent at the anterior.
I'm sending along these great photos so you can see what the larvae
look like, but please don't re-use them without my permission. Both
photos are copyrighted will be coming out in publications from my lab
this year.
Good luck!
Billie
On Apr 29, 2004, at 1:59 PM, G.S Prendergast wrote:
> Hello there
> i was wondering if anyone could tell me how to identify and distinguish
> between the larvae of the following tunicate species: Ciona
> intestinalis,
> Corella parallelogramma and Botryllus schlosseri, or if anyone knows of
> any paper/guide/textbook/website i might consult?
> thankyou very much
> Gabrielle
>
Happy Spring!
Dr. Billie J. Swalla
Associate Professor
Box 351800
24 Kincaid Hall
Biology Department
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195-1800
Phone: 206-616-9367
Fax: 206-616-2011
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
http://faculty.washington.edu/bjswalla/
Check out our 2002 summer course at FHL
"Comparative Embryology of Invertebrates"
http://courses.washington.edu/emb2002/
Check out our 2001 summer course at FHL
"Evolution and Development of the Metazoans"
http://www.whoi.edu/science/B/people/khalanych/evodevo2001/index.html
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