Genus: Eudistoma
Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa
(animals) >
Bilateria > Deuterostomia >
Chordata > Tunicata >
Ascidiacea (sea squirts) > Aplousobranchia > Family:
Polycitoridae
A total of 123 species worldwide, nine of which are native to southern African
seas.
Species native to southern Africa
Information from Monniot et al. (2001).
Global figures are from World
Register of Marine Species (WoRMS).
Eudistoma bituminis
Recorded in intertidal pools from Sodwana Bay,
KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Also collected from Mayotte in the Comoros
islands. |
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Eudistoma caeruleum (Blue lollipop ascidian)
Distribution includes the KwaZulu-Natal and Mozambique coasts, the west
coast of Madagascar and Mayotte in the Comoros islands. Occurs in intertidal
rock pools, including those with sand in them (Branch et al. 2010). |
|
Eudistoma hospitale Broad
distribution, from the south-western Pacific to South Africa and Tanzania,
occurring at depths ranging from low tide to 30 m. |
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Eudistoma illotum Recorded from
the Western Cape, South Africa, including Saldanha Bay, Kommetjie and
Miller's Point (Cape Peninsula, on the False Bay coastline). Found under
overhangs in the intertidal zone and in pools. |
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Eudistoma modestum Recorded in the
intertidal zone along the KwaZulu-Natal coastline (South Africa), including
Isipingo and Sodwana Bay. Colonies occur on vertical rock faces exposed at
low tide. |
|
Eudistoma occultum Recorded in the
intertidal zone at Sea Point, Cape Town. |
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Eudistoma paesslerioides
Distribution includes East North Atlantic and Mozambique. |
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Eudistoma renieri
Recorded from St Francis Bay (Eastern Cape) and from
Durban (KwaZulu-Natal). |
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Eudistoma rhodopyge Recorded from
the Cape to Durban, and also from Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius. |
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Publications
- Monniot C, Monniot F and Griffiths CL. 2001. South African
ascidians. Annals of the South African Museum 108(1): 1-141.
Text by Hamish Robertson |