Doliolula equus

Description

General: Individual zooids link together in a chain. Common stolon links individual zooids together. Zooids ovate, almost spherical, in shape with five girdling muscle bands and a thick tunic. Gut is U-shaped. Buccal siphon often hosts hydroids of Bythotiara dolioeques in mutualistic symbiosis.

Size: Individual zooids to 22 mm. Total colony length to 4.5 m.

Reproduction: Hermaphroditic.

Geographic Information

Habitat description: Mesopelagic.

Published depth range: 80 - 550 m, most common 300 - 400 m.

Additional Information

Color: Tunic and body wall typically transparent, with some zooids exhibiting small, irregularly shaped patches of bright orange pigment.

Looks like: Salp chain.

References

Encyclopedia of Life

Tree of Life

World Register of Marine Species

National Center for Biotechnology Information

Robison, B.H., K.A. Raskoff, and R.E. Sherlock (2005). Ecological substrate in midwater: Doliolula equus, a new mesopelagic tunicate. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 85: 655-663. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0025315405011586

Martini, S. and S.H.D. Haddock (2017). Quantification of bioluminescence from the surface to the deep sea demonstrates its predominance as an ecological trait. Scientific Reports, 7: 45750. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep45750