''Cyclosalpa bakeri'' is a

salp A salp (: salps, also known colloquially as “sea grape”) or salpa (: salpae or salpas) is a barrel-shaped, Plankton, planktonic tunicate in the family Salpidae. The salp moves by contracting its gelatinous body in order to pump water thro ...

, a marine

tunicate Tunicates are marine invertebrates belonging to the subphylum Tunicata ( ). This grouping is part of the Chordata, a phylum which includes all animals with dorsal nerve cords and notochords (including vertebrates). The subphylum was at one time ...

in the

class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

Thaliacea Thaliacea is a class of marine chordates within the subphylum Tunicate, Tunicata, comprising the salps, pyrosomes and doliolids. Unlike their benthic relatives the Ascidiacea, ascidians, from which they are believed to have emerged, thaliaceans a ...

. It is found floating in the open sea in the Indo-Pacific region.

Description

Like other salps, ''Cyclosalpa bakeri'' has two different phases. In one of these forms, individuals live a solitary life. They are cylindrical, transparent, gelatinous animals with a rather flabby test, growing to about 15 cm (6ins) long. There are openings at the anterior and posterior ends of the cylinder which can be opened or closed as needed. The bodies have seven transverse bands of muscle interspersed by white, translucent patches. A stolon grows from near the endostyle (an elongated glandular structure producing mucus for trapping food particles). The stolon is a ribbon-like organ on which a batch of aggregate forms of the animal are produced by

budding Budding or blastogenesis is a type of asexual reproduction in which a new organism develops from an outgrowth or bud due to cell division at one particular site. For example, the small bulb-like projection coming out from the yeast cell is kno ...

. The aggregate is the second, colonial form of the salp and is also gelatinous, transparent and flabby. It takes the shape of a radial whorl of individuals up to about 20 cm (4 in) in diameter. It is formed of approximately 12

zooid A zooid or zoöid is an animal that is part of a colonial animal. This lifestyle has been adopted by animals from separate unrelated taxa. Zooids are multicellular; their structure is similar to that of other solitary animals. The zooids can ...

s linked side by side in a shape that resembles a crown.''Cyclosalpa bakeri'' - Ritter, 1905
JelliesZone, by David Wrobel. Retrieved 2016-04-10.Pelagic Tunicates
JelliesZone, by David Wrobel. Retrieved 2016-04-10.

Distribution

''Cyclosalpa bakeri'' has an

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

distribution. Its range includes tropical and temperate waters and extends as far north as

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

Biology

''Cyclosalpa bakeri'' moves by contracting its bands of muscles rhythmically at the same time opening and closing the front and rear openings appropriately. This squeezes water out from the hollow interior and the animal moves in the opposite direction, a form of jet propulsion. This water movement brings in suspended

phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater Aquatic ecosystem, ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek language, Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), mea ...

which are caught by a mucus net. ''Cyclosalpa bakeri'' is an extremely efficient feeder. The aggregates can grow by a quarter of their size each day and individuals can eat more than half their body mass daily. Individuals within the aggregate are sequential

hermaphrodite A hermaphrodite () is a sexually reproducing organism that produces both male and female gametes. Animal species in which individuals are either male or female are gonochoric, which is the opposite of hermaphroditic. The individuals of many ...

s. They usually start life as females but later develop into males. Eggs are produced by the females and are fertilised by sperm from another aggregate. There is no

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

l form and a single

embryo An embryo ( ) is the initial stage of development for a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sp ...

develops in each individual in the aggregate. This later becomes detached from the aggregate and becomes a solitary individual ready to undergo

asexual reproduction Asexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that does not involve the fusion of gametes or change in the number of chromosomes. The offspring that arise by asexual reproduction from either unicellular or multicellular organisms inherit the f ...

by budding again. The animal's rapid growth and this alternation of generations means that the population can build up rapidly when there is a plentiful food supply such as a bloom of phytoplankton. The salps themselves are eaten by fish, turtles, birds,

jellyfish Jellyfish, also known as sea jellies or simply jellies, are the #Life cycle, medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, which is a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animal ...

, heteropods,

siphonophores Siphonophorae (from Ancient Greek σίφων (siphōn), meaning "tube" and -φόρος (-phóros), meaning "bearing") is an Order (biology), order within Hydrozoa, a class of marine organisms within the phylum Cnidaria. According to the World Re ...

and

ctenophores Ctenophora (; : ctenophore ) is a phylum of marine invertebrates, commonly known as comb jellies, that marine habitats, inhabit sea waters worldwide. They are notable for the groups of cilia they use for swimming (commonly referred to as "combs ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4919861 Salpidae Animals described in 1905