Soestia zonaria
[= Iasis zonaria]
Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa
(animals) >
Bilateria > Deuterostomia >
Chordata > Tunicata >
Thaliacea > Salpida > Family: Salpidae >
Soestia
Distribution and habitat
Semi-cosmopolitan. Recorded from the southwest coast of South Africa, under
the name Iasis zonaria, by Lazarus & Dowler (1979). Recorded from the
Benguela Current region off southern Africa by Gibbons (1999).
Food
Filter feeders on phytoplankton including:
Ecological interactions
- Predators
- fish
- Engraulis anchoita (Anchovy) (Mianzan et al.
2001)
- Scomber japonicus (Mackerel). The results of
Mianzan et al. (1997) suggest that mortality of
Mackerel was caused by the toxic effects of eating these
salps, which in turn had been eating the toxic
dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarense.
Publications
- Gibbons MJ. 1999. An introduction to the zooplankton of the
Benguela Current region. National Book Publishers, Cape Town.
- Lazarus, B. I. and D. Dowler. 1979. Pelagic tunicata off the
west and south-west coasts of South Africa, 1964-1965. Fish.
Bull. S. Afr. 12:93-119.
- Mianzan HW, Pájaro M, Machinandiarena L, Cremonte F. 1997.
Salps: possible vectors of toxic dinoflagellates? Fisheries
Research 29(2): 193-197. DOI
S0165-7836(96)00526-7
- Mianzan H, Pájaro M, Alvarez Colombo G, Madirolas A. 2001.
Feeding on survival-food: gelatinous plankton as a source of
food for anchovies. Hydrobiologia 451: 45-53.
Text by Hamish Robertson |
