Aplidium pallidum - Marine Life Encyclopedia

Aplidium pallidum (Verrill, 1871)

Aplidium pallidum

Description: A semitransparent colonial ascidian looking like a drop of jelly with small zooids and usually a single osculum-like cloacal opening. The colonies are usually unpigmented apart from some brown staining around the cloacal opening. The zooids are scattered throughout the colony apparently at random, forming no organised pattern. Colonies 15mm in diameter.

Habitat: Attached to rocks and seaweeds such as Halidrys siliquosa in moderately exposed places.

Distribution: South and west coasts of the British Isles.

Similar Species: The small zooids and soft appearance immediately distinguish this species from other polyclinids, but it may be mistaken for a didemnid, such as Diplosoma listerianum.

Key Identification Features:

Discrete jelly-like colony with single exhalant opening.
Small colourless zooids, half the size of other polyclinid zooids.

Distribution Map: NBN map : National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

WoRMS: Species record : World Register of Marine Species.

iNaturalist: Species account : iNaturalist World Species Observations database

Picton, B.E. & Morrow, C.C. (2016). Aplidium pallidum (Verrill, 1871). [In] Encyclopedia of Marine Life of Britain and Ireland.
https://www.habitas.org.uk/marinelife/species.asp?item=ZD620 Accessed on 2024-12-05

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