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Predatory tunicate
Predatory tunicate Megalodicopia hians
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Subphylum:
Tunicata
Class:
Ascidiacea
Order:
Phlebobranchia
Family:
Octacnemidae
Genus:
Megalodicopia
Species:
M. hians
Binomial name
Megalodicopia hians
Oka, 1918[1]
The predatory tunicate (Megalodicopia hians), also known as the ghostfish,[2] is a species of tunicate which lives anchored along deep-sea canyon walls and the seafloor. It is unique among other tunicates in that rather than being a filter feeder, it has adapted to life as an ambush predator. Its mouth-like siphon is quick to close whenever a small animal such as a crustacean or a fish drifts inside. Once the predatory tunicate catches a meal, it keeps its trap shut until the animal inside is digested. They are known to live in the Monterey Canyon at depths of 200–1,000 metres (660–3,280 ft). They mostly feed on zooplankton and tiny animals, and their bodies are roughly 5 inches (13 cm) across.[3]
Predatory tunicates are hermaphrodites, producing both eggs and sperm which drift into the water. If there are no other tunicates nearby, they can self-fertilize the eggs.[3]
^Karen Sanamyan (2010). Noa Shenkar; Arjan Gittenberger; Gretchen Lambert; Marc Rius; Rosana Moreira Da Rocha; Billie J. Swalla (eds.). "Megalodicopia Oka, 1918". World Ascidiacea Database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved June 28, 2011.
^O'Brien, Nicholas (28 September 2014). "Marine Organism of the Week, Ghostfish". Bates.
The predatorytunicate (Megalodicopia hians), also known as the ghostfish, is a species of tunicate which lives anchored along deep-sea canyon walls and...
A tunicate is a exclusively marine invertebrate animal, a member of the subphylum Tunicata (/ˌtjuːnɪˈkeɪtə/ TEW-nih-KAY-tə). This grouping is part of the...
Ghostfish or Ghost Fish may refer to: Predatorytunicate, which is not actually a fish Wrymouth Kryptopterus vitreolus Chimaera, also known as a ghost...
muscle strands reminiscent of barrel bands. Like all tunicates, except for the predatorytunicate, they are filter feeders. Unlike the related class Ascidiacea...
needed] Tunicates, such as ascidians, salps and sea squirts, are chordates which form a sister group to the vertebrates. Nearly all tunicates are suspension...
feed on plankton that includes organisms such as mollusks, crustaceans, tunicate larvae, rotifers, young polychaetes, protozoans, diatoms, eggs, fish eggs...
Lancetfishes are large oceanic predatory fishes in the genus Alepisaurus ("scaleless lizard") in the monogeneric family Alepisauridae. Lancetfishes grow...
sea lampreys, zebra mussels, smallmouth bass, European green crab, vase tunicate, and sea squirts. The sea lamprey began migrating to fresh water like Lake...
(Pleurodeles waltl), which can grow up to 30 cm (12 in) in length. The largest tunicate is Synoicum pulmonaria, found at depths of 20 and 40 metres (66 and 131 ft)...
holocephalans were much more diverse in lifestyles, including shark-like predatory forms and slow, durophagous fish. Members of this taxon preserve today...
barrel-like homes, created most commonly from the tunics of select species of tunicate, where they rear their young. P. sedentaria is known to employ multiple...
may have evolved from an animal similar to a coral-like sea squirt (a tunicate), whose larvae resemble early fish in important ways. The first ancestors...
estuarine habit. They are a predatory species with a rather catholic diet which includes crabs, shrimps, barnacles, worms, tunicates, small fish and bivalves...
Serranidae, which also includes the anthias and sea basses. They are predatory fish, largely associated with reefs and are found in tropical and subtropical...
are rarely, if ever, offered in the saltwater aquaria trade. Sponges Tunicates (sea squirts) Non-dwarf Angelfish This includes any of the larger angelfish...
fish, amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans, cnidarians, echinoderms, and tunicates undergo metamorphosis, which is often accompanied by a change of nutrition...
urchin and model deuterostome (2006) Ciona intestinalis, a tunicate (2002) Ciona savignyi, a tunicate (2007) Oikopleura dioica, a larvacean (2001). Branchiostoma...
zooplankton include pelagic cnidarians, ctenophores, molluscs, arthropods and tunicates, as well as planktonic arrow worms and bristle worms. The distinction...
pharyngeal slits. Gill slits likely originated from pharyngeal slits in tunicates that were used for filter-feeding. The term "gill slits" has also been...
igaboja, commonly known as sea hedgehog, bristly tunicate or spiny sea squirt, is a species of tunicate in the family Pyuridae. It is native to the northeastern...
drug Yondelis was isolated from the tunicate Ecteinascidia turbinata. One of dozens of toxins made by the predatory cone snail Conus geographus is used...
crassa. Tunicates may provide clues to vertebrate (and therefore human) ancestry. Salp chain Gill slits in an acorn worm (left) and tunicate (right) There...
and gorgonians. It feeds mainly on sponges and algae, but also consumes tunicates, bryozoans and other bottom-dwelling invertebrates. Juveniles are found...
(in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean), and sand eels, as well as mollusks, tunicates, comb jellies, crustaceans, echinoderms and sea worms. Stomach sampling...
concentration of the secreted molecules, is high. Pyrosomes are colonial tunicates and each zooid has a pair of luminescent organs on either side of the...
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