''Pyura praeputialis'' is an

intertidal The intertidal zone or foreshore is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide; in other words, it is the part of the littoral zone within the tidal range. This area can include several types of habitats with various sp ...

and shallow water species of

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 ...

. It is one of three species of " cunjevoi" in Australasia (the other two being the yellow cunjevoi ''P. dalbyi'' and the doppelganger cunjevoi ''P. doppelgangera''). It is the first reported species of marine organism to create a "foam-nest" for its larvae.

Distribution

''Pyura praeputialis'' is common in coastal areas of the Australian mainland and ranges from southern

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Cape Otway Cape Otway is a cape and a bounded locality of the Colac Otway Shire in southern Victoria, Australia on the Great Ocean Road; much of the area is enclosed in the Great Otway National Park. The cape marks the boundary between the Southern Ocea ...

in Victoria. It is a

non-indigenous species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

Antofagasta Antofagasta () is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2015 census, the city has a population of 402,669. Once claimed by Bolivia follo ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. This species is an

ecosystem engineer An ecosystem engineer is any species that creates, significantly modifies, maintains or destroys a habitat. These organisms can have a large impact on species richness and landscape-level heterogeneity of an area. As a result, ecosystem engine ...

that can drastically alter habitats by overgrowing other sessile marine

invertebrates Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordate subphylum ...

. This makes it a likely problem species when introduced to new habitats. However, the positive impacts it can have are shelter for juveniles that are being hunted, protection from desiccation, beneficial interactions between organisms, and coexistence of other species. Castilla, J. C., Lagos, N. A., & Cerda, M. (2004). Marine ecosystem engineering by the alien ascidian Pyura praeputialis on a mid-intertidal rocky shore. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 268, 119-130.

Taxonomy

This species is part of the " ''P. stolonifera'' species complex", a group of large tunicates that are all often referred to as ''P. stolonifera'' (a species endemic to

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

). It is also sometimes called "''P. stolonifera praeputialis''". Compared to other species in the

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

that have onion-shaped bodies, ''P. praeputialis'' is taller, cylindrical in shape and often has a greater diameter at the top than at the base. Pyura praeputialis Balmoral Sydney

References

Animals described in 1878 Pyuridae Fauna of the Pacific Ocean {{tunicata-stub