Bathochordaeus stygius

Description

General: Tadpole-like body. Secretes a pair of filters, including a complex, chambered internal filter and a more diffuse outer filter that may be up to 1 meter across.

Size: To 87 mm total length.

Geographic Information

Habitat description: Mesopelagic.

Additional Information

Diet: Marine snow.

Looks like: Bathchordaeus charon, Bathochordaeus mcnutti.

Key visual features: Body smaller in size relative to internal mucous filter than B. charon. Body similar to B. mcnutti, but tail lacks distinctive blue margin as seen in B. mcnutti. Shape and size of mucous house similar to B. mcnutti, but B. mcnutti houses typically have a pair of conspicuous protrusions. Inner mucous filter has more chambers than that of B. charon.

Referenc: Garstang, W. (1937). On the anatomy and relations of the appendicularian Bathochordaeus, based on a new species from Bermuda (B. stygius, sp. N.). Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology, 40: 283-303.

References

Encyclopedia of Life

Tree of Life

World Register of Marine Species

National Center for Biotechnology Information

Sherlock, R.E., K.R. Walz, and B.H. Robison (2016). The first definitive record of the giant larvacean, Bathochordaeus charon, since its original description in 1900 and a range extension to the northeast Pacific Ocean. Marine Biodiversity Records, 9: 79. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41200-016-0075-9.

Sherlock, R.E., K.R. Walz, K.L. Schlining, and B.H. Robison (2017). Morphology, ecology, and molecular biology of a new species of giant larvacean in the eastern North Pacific: Bathochordaeus mcnutti sp. nov. Marine Biology, 164: 20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00227-016-3046-0