''Aplidium solidum'' is a species of

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 a ...

sea squirts, a tunicate in the family

Polyclinidae Polyclinidae is a family of tunicates in the order Enterogona. It describes a group of marine animals. Genera The World Register of Marine Species lists the following genera: *'' Aplidiopsis'' Lahille, 1890 *'' Aplidium'' Savigny, 1816 *'' Fraga ...

. It is commonly known as the red ascidian or sea pork.

Description

''Aplidium solidum'' is a compound tunicate forming sheets or slabs up to 20 cm across on rocks and other hard substrates. The tunic is gelatinous but firm in consistency, 2 to 3 cm thick and a red or pink colour. The individual zooids are bright red, 12 mm long and arranged in small systems. There are usually 13 to 15 rows of gill-like perforations in the pharynx of each.''Aplidium solidum''
SeaNet. Retrieved 2011-11-21.
WallaWalla. Retrieved 2011-11-21.

Distribution

The type location of ''Aplidium solidum'' is Pemba Island, Tanzania and it is also found in Australian waters. It occurs on the west coast of North America from British Columbia south to California where it is common on rocks, especially among the holdfasts of kelp forests, and pilings. It occurs in the

intertidal zone The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species o ...

and at depths down to 40 metres.

Biology

''Aplidium solidum'' is a

filter feeder Filter feeders are a sub-group of suspension feeding animals that feed by straining suspended matter and food particles from water, typically by passing the water over a specialized filtering structure. Some animals that use this method of feedin ...

. Water is sucked into the interior of the organism through an oral aperture and then expelled through a larger one, common to all the zooids in the system.

Phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'. Ph ...

and other small organisms get trapped in mucus threads secreted by the endostyle. This tunicate breeds in the spring and summer and broods its larvae in its atrial cavity. The nudibranch, '' Hermissenda crassicornis'', feeds on this tunicate.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4779979 Polyclinidae Animals described in 1917