Daily Archives: Saturday,January 15, 2011

Corella willmeriana: Tansparent sea squirt–The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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rmcorella

Corella willmeriana : Photo by Ryan Murphy

Ryan took this picture of Corella underwater at Race Rocks. Note inside intestine and other internal organs.
From Wikipedia:
“Reproduction and Development
Hermaphroditic; ‘Corella willmeriana‘ breeds throughout the year. The eggs are fertilized in the atrial chamber, where they develop in to the free-swimming tadpole stage before released. Swimming larvae remain juveniles for <2 days before anterior adhesive organs allow for attachment to substratum. This triggers metamorphism, which entails enlargement of pharynx for filter feeding; the notochord is sucked back into body and is no longer present in adult form.”

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Urochordata
Class Ascidiacea
Order Phlebobranchia
Family Corellidae
Genus Corella
Species willmeriana (Herdman, 1898)
Common Name: transparent sea squirt
Other Members of the Subphylum Urochordata underwater at Race Rocks <
taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.

Granulina margaritula: Pear-shaped margaritula– The Race Rocks taxonomy

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Granulina margaritula the “Little Pearl” is a prosobranch gastropod belonging to the Marginellidae family that ranges from Southern Alaska to Panama. The bright colouration shown in this photo comes from the animal’s “mantle” which is an extension of the “dorsal body”. The epidermis of the mantle can secrete CaCO3 to create a shell.

To see G. margaritula’s shell and mantle: http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+03…
A special thank you to Dr. Alan Kohn at University of Washinton for his help in identifying G. margaritula.

This is the first one photographed underwater at Race Rocks

Compare the size Granulina margaritula to Flabellina verrucosa beside it in this photo.This “Three-lined” aeolid is seasonally abundant from Baja to Alaska (Behrens, 1991). Aeolids are opisthobranch gastropods known as sea slugs because they have lost their shells. This photo shows the nudibranch’s “oral tentacles” (bottom), ridged sensory antennae called “rhinophores”, “cerata” which contain stolen stinging cells for defense, and a “propodial tentacle”. This aeolid is common year-round at the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve where it is often observed feeding on hydroids such as Tubularia.
Macro images by Ryan Murphy

 

Other Members of the Phylum Echinodermata Mollusca at Race Rocks 
taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams. January 2011, Ryan Murphy

 

 

Cuthona divea

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From Marine Life of the Pacific by Lamb and Hanby, we see that the rose-pink cuthona, or Correa’s aeolid Is a very bushy species,( living fro intertidal to 20 metres depth from BC to California. The first three rows of cerata (gills) begin ahead of its rhinophores (sensory organs).It feeds on hydractinid hydroids whose color it closely matches. Macro image by Ryan Murphy

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Mollusca
Class Gastropoda
Order Nudibranchia
Family Tergipedidae
Genus Cuthona
Species divae
Common Name: Rose-pink Cuthona (Er.Marcus,1961
Other Members of the Phylum Arthropoda at Race Rocks 
taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.

 January 2011 Garry Fletcher