The yellow to dark red-brown body is elongated, cylindrical, and has longitudinal ridges and grooves. There are 2 siphons at the upper end and a thin stalk below that is about the same length as the body.
Habitat
Attached to large boulders, rocky reefs, or other hard structures from the lower intertidal zone to 100 feet subtidally
Diet
Suspension feeder; plankton
Life History
Stalked tunicates do not have separate sexes. Each individual broadcast spawns both eggs and sperm in the summer. After fertilization, it takes 2 days for the eggs to hatch into a tadpole larva. Larvae start life as free floating plankton for as long as 8 days and do not feed during this time, then undergo metamorphosis and settle to the bottom.
Reach a maximum length of ~12 inches
IUCN Status
Not Evaluated
Ecosystem & Cultural Importance
The Oregon hairy triton (which produces the state seashell of Oregon) is a predatory sea snail that primarily eats tunicates.
Tunicates are the invertebrate group closest to vertebrates. The larval stage has a nerve cord and a notochord, but these are lost during metamorphosis to the more basic adult sac form.
Water enters the tunicate through the down-curved siphon and exits through the siphon pointing straight up.
Young, Craig M.; Braithwaite, Lee F. (1980). “Orientation and current-induced flow in the stalked ascidian Steyla montereyensis”. The Biological Bulletin. 159 (2): 428–440.
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