Oikopleura is a genus of tunicates in the class Appendicularia (larvaceans). It forms a mucus house every four hours at 20 degrees Celsius. This house has a coarse mesh to keep out big particles, and a fine mesh that collects the small particles, down to the nanoplankton that includes (pelagic) bacteria.
Abandoned mucus houses sink to the deep, collecting organic particles during their descent. They make an important contribution to marine snow, since Oikopleura is abundant and is a very active filterer, using powerful strokes of its tail. Its abundance is less obvious from preserved samples (that are usually analyzed) because the gelatinous body disappears in the preservation process while leaving hardly any trace.
Species of Oikopleura have the smallest genomes in the animal kingdom, only about 75Mb.
Oikopleura contains bioluminescent species.[1] About half of Oikopleura species are bioluminescent.[2][3]
^Herring, Peter J. (1987). "Systematic distribution of bioluminescence in living organisms". Journal of Bioluminescence and Chemiluminescence. 1 (3): 147–163. doi:10.1002/bio.1170010303. PMID 3503524.
^Galt, Charles P.; Grober, Matthews S.; Sykes, Paul F. (1985). "Taxonomic correlates of bioluminescence among appendicularians (Urochordata: Larvacea)". The Biological Bulletin. 168 (1): 125–134. doi:10.2307/1541178. JSTOR 1541178.
^Haddock, Steven H.D.; Moline, Mark A.; Case, James F. (2010). "Bioluminescence in the Sea". Annual Review of Marine Science. 2 (1): 443–493. Bibcode:2010ARMS....2..443H. doi:10.1146/annurev-marine-120308-081028. ISSN 1941-1405. PMID 21141672.
Oikopleura is a genus of tunicates in the class Appendicularia (larvaceans). It forms a mucus house every four hours at 20 degrees Celsius. This house...
Oikopleura dioica is a species of small pelagic tunicate found in the surface waters of most of the world's oceans. It is used as a model organism in research...
and can reach up to ten times their body length. In some genera like Oikopleura, houses are built and discarded every few hours, with sinking houses playing...
is now recognized as cellulose rather than any alternative substance. Oikopleura cophocerca in its "house". Arrows indicate water movement and (x) the...
Oikopleura cophocerca is a species of small pelagic tunicate found in the surface waters of most of the world's oceans. It superficially resembles a tadpole...
(1952). "Untersuchungen über die Gehäusebildung bei Appendicularien (Oikopleura dioica Fol)". Zeitschrift für Morphologie und Ökologie der Tiere. 41 (1):...
jelly prey. Phylliroe has been seen approaching a swarm of the larvacean Oikopleura albicans from below, grabbing a specimen with its paired denticulate jaws...
appendiculariae was discovered as a parasite attached to the tail of a species of Oikopleura. "Gromia appendiculariae". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved...
or stone at temperatures below 0 °C, feeding mainly on crustaceans and Oikopleura. The young of this species are reportedly seen in shallower water. The...
It is a benthic fish that feeds on crustaceans, smaller fishes, and Oikopleura. Atlantic spiny lumpsuckers are found in the Arctic and coastal parts...
other tunicates, the unrelated Pyrosoma and Appendicularia (e.g. genus Oikopleura), which produce an intrinsic blue light, are bioluminescent, and genera...
comment about larva of Antedon 30 Tornaria's Water-Works description 56 Oikopleura, Jelly-builder description 48 The Ancestry of Vertebrates homologous head...
the trematode Schistosoma mansoni), and a primitive chordate tunicate Oikopleura dioica. Many more organisms are likely to be shown to have these operons...
Ciona intestinalis, a tunicate (2002) Ciona savignyi, a tunicate (2007) Oikopleura dioica, a larvacean (2001). Branchiostoma floridae, a lancelet (2008)...
carotenoid in four different blue-pigmented copepod genera as well as in Oikopleura dioica of the class Appendicularia indicating convergent evolution of...
the vicinity of northwest Washington, USA. Its host is the sea squirt Oikopleura labradoriensis. Trophozoites of A. floodi are encased by membrane and...
Lancelet Branchiostoma floridae, the Tunicates Ciona intestinalis and Oikopleura dioica, the lamprey Petromyzon marinus, the fish Fugu rubripes and Gasterosteus...
model for evolutionary developmental biology and comparative genomics Oikopleura dioica, an appendicularian, a free-swimming tunicate (or urochordate)...
Another study in Japan found that Dolioletta gegenbauri, along with Oikopleura spp., increased greatly in number in times of algal blooms and played...
Nematostella vectensis, the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi, the tunicates Oikopleura and Ciona and the annelid worms Malacoceros fuliginosus and Dimorphilus...
consumes about 85% of its bodyweight each day. It feeds on copepods, Oikopleura and smaller P. setosa. It is itself consumed by larger organisms such...
present, viruses can be ingested at rates comparable to bacteria. Using Oikopleura dioica and Equid alphaherpesvirus 1 (EhV) as a model, scientists estimated...
family, it has been especially well-researched thanks to the ubiquity of Oikopleura dioica as a model species. It comprises two subfamilies, Bathochordaeinae...
Particles on Sinking Rate of Marine Snow Produced by the Appendicularian Oikopleura dioica". PLOS ONE. 8 (9): e75676. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...875676L. doi:10...
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