Polycarpa
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Ascidiacea
Order: Stolidobranchia
Family: Styelidae
Genus: Polycarpa
IG-NHM-C2-4
Description
Polycarpa grows to a height of 5 to 15 cm (2 to 6 in). It has an urn-shaped, hollow body
with two siphons, one at the top and the other on the side. The body colour of this
tunicate is white with purple and orange patches and purple lines. The inside is yellow or
orange and this is visible around the rim of the siphons. These are tunicates feed by
drawing water in through the branchial siphon at the top, filtering out phytoplankton,
bacteria and other food particles, before expelling the water through the atrial siphon at
the side. Sometimes hydroids and algae grow on the outside of the
tunicate and nudibranchs such as Nembrotha lineolata sometimes feed on it. This species
is found in the tropical eastern Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. Its range
includes the Philippines, Indonesia and northern Australia. Its depth range is 5 to 50 m
(16 to 164 ft).
Reference
http://www.gbif.org/species/100265872
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00364827.1994.10413547