They are a sleek saltwater catfish that cleans up the bottom. Adult males carry and hatch the eggs in their mouths. Size 10-30 cm.
$22.50
Sea Squirts and Sea Pork
Class Ascidiacea
The tunicates. Who would believe that these large, fleshly blobs resembling a sponge for all practical appearances, are one of the most highly evolved of all marine invertebrates? In their adult form, they are little more than a water pump, pumping water in through their vascular system, extracting nutrients, and pumping the water out. It is in their larval stage that the tunicates display the characteristics that make them part of the same chordate phylum to which all fish, birds, reptiles, and mammals belong.
Watch Tunicate videos on YouTube.com
Palagic tunicate . Tunicates on boat bottom . Star tunicate in Maine . Tunicate out of body experience
Since there are no fresh water echinoderms, this is one of the most popular phylogenetic assortments, with collections of writhing brittlestars lashing their snaky arms, bristling sea urchins and burrowing sand dollars. Sea cucumbers, shaped as their name implies, tunnel through the sediments like earthworms taking up nutrients and starfish creep up the aquarium glass, wrapping their arms around tunicates, or chopped clams. Sand stars emerge from sand and “speed” along the bottom, on raised tubed feet when a bit of food is dropped in the tank. These assortments usually include two or three of every listing, and sometimes there are surprises such as sea biscuits and other echinoderms.
Price range: $135.00 through $270.00
Included are amphipods, isopods, barnacles, crabs, shrimp, hermit crabs, and horseshoe crabs.
Price range: $135.00 through $270.00
Includes colorful anemones from our tanks, hydroid, corals, gorgonians, sea pansies and if scyphozoan jellyfish are pulsating in our bay, they are included along with shimmering examples of the phylum Ctenophora.
Price range: $135.00 through $270.00
Includes an array of brightly colored sponges that can range from different shades of green, blue, pink or yellow. Species may include red beard, yellow ball, devil’s finger and crumb of bread sponge.
Price range: $135.00 through $270.00
- Included are chitons, clams, mussels, whelks, snails, and nudibranchs. When abundant, scaphopods and/or frilled sea hares may be included.
Price range: $135.00 through $270.00
Create your own botanical gardens with our collection of semi-tropical macroscopic benthic marine algae. Phyla represented include Chlorophyta, Rhodophyta, Phaeophyta, and Cyanophyta.
Price range: $99.00 through $129.50
The greatest diversity of fish form and function is found among marine species. Here the flat fishes, flounders, hog chokers, tonguefish, represent the epitomy of depression, and eels are the most elongate. Blowfish inflate themselves, and pipefish, looking like blades of grass, are perfect in camouflage. While these examples are likely to turn up in our fish assortment, there is no predicting the diversity and variety that will be provided. It is always a pleasant surprise.
Price range: $135.00 through $216.50
Includes non-vertebrate chordates: solitary, colonial, and encrusting tunicates and amphioxus
Price range: $135.00 through $191.00
Colorful anemones from our tanks, hydroid, corals, gorgonians, sea pansies and if scyphozoan jellyfish are pulsating in our bay, they are included along with shimmering examples of the phylum Ctenophora.
Price range: $135.00 through $270.00
Arius felis
They are a sleek saltwater catfish that cleans up the bottom. Adult males carry and hatch the eggs in their mouths. Size 10-30 cm.
Each Dozzen small ---123
Each Dozzen small ---123
Each Dozzen small ---123
Each Dozzen small ---123
$22.50
Hardhead sea catfish (Arius felis)
Spheroides nephelus
A drab smooth-skinned fish that will inflate itself into a tight, buoyant, impregnable ball when handled. Size: 10-14 cm.
$25.50
Southern puffer (Spheroides nephelus)
Lactophrys tricornis
It has a fused armor giving it a hard-shelled, triangular un-fishlike body. Colorful blue, green and yellow fish with two prominent horns over its eyes.
$25.50
A cowfish (Lactophrys tricornis)
Balistes capriscus
Known mostly for their sharp “triggered” dorsal spine, these territorial grey triggerfish are a sight to see both locally in the Gulf of Mexico and ranging throughout the western Atlantic Ocean.
$80.50
Grey triggerfish (Balistes capriscus) at Gulf Specimen Marine Lab and Aquarium.
Monacanthus hispidus
Their names come from their sandpapery skin, fishermen once used their hides to strike matches. Their dorsal spine has a trigger-like mechanism that makes it spring erect when they are threatened. Size: 4-8 cm.
Price range: $13.00 through $17.00
Gobiesox strumosus
Small fish shaped like a skillet; with a broad head and narrow body. The pelvic fins are actually a large, broad suction disc. Clingfish are usually found hiding in or on the shells around oyster bars and seagrass beds. Size: 4-6 cm.
$24.50
Clingfish or skilletfish (Gobiesox strumosus)
Symphurus plagiusa
Small, flat, left-eyed fishes that taper to a point — “tongue-shaped” — hence the name. They are bottom-dwelling fish, common in the muddy bottoms of bays and estuaries feeding on small crustaceans and polychaete worms. Size 6-12 cm.
$20.00
Trinectes maculatus
This flatfish stays buried and looks like a baby flounder but seldom grows larger than six inches. Probably named from the days when hogs roamed the beaches and gobbled up fish as fast as seine fishermen dragged their catches up on the beaches. The scales, which make the fish stick to the deck, also could lodge in a hog’s throat. Very hardy and vigorous. Size: 6-12 cm.
$22.50
Hogchoker (Trinectes maculatus)
Paralichthys oblongus
Unlike the common gulf flounders, these flatfishes have four large, dark and round spots on their bodies.
$22.50
Four-spotted flounder (Paralichthys oblongus)
Paralichthys albigutta
Flounders belong to the group of fishes known as “flat fishes.” Their most unique feature is the placement of their eyes. As the young larvae develop, one eye migrates across the head toward the other. Depending on the species, flounders and other flatfishes are “right-eyed” or “left-eyed.” Lying flat on the sea bottom, flounders are masters of camouflage, changing their coloration to blend in with the substrate; hiding from predators or aggressively ambushing small fishes and crustaceans with their mighty tooth-studded jaws.
Price range: $21.50 through $34.50
Mugil cephalus.
Often seen jumping out of the water, mullet are the cows of the fish world, and are the main food fish of the northern Gulf Coast. They browse along the bottom, feeding on algae and tiny creatures that live in mud.
$22.50
Serranus subligarius
The smallest of the Sea Basses they are 5 inches long at maximum, but mature at 2 inches. Common in warm Atlantic and Caribbean waters to depths of 60 feet. Found around rocky jetties and over sand flats. Their common name comes from the large white patch on their belly. Size: 3-6 cm.
$31.50
Belted sandfish (Serranus subligarius)
Chasmodes saburrae and other species
A large group of
small, fish (2-4 inches), common along the shells of oyster bars. Also found on shallow flats and seagrass beds. Females lay hundreds of tiny golden colored eggs in empty shells, which the males aggressively guard. Size: 3-8 cm.
$17.00
Feather blennie (Hypsoblennius henzi)
Halichoeres bivittatus
Has beautiful green coloration. Will bury itself in the sand substrate to hide. Size 6-10cm.
$17.50
Green wrasse (Halichoeres bivittatus) at Gulf Specimen Marine Lab in Panacea, FL.
Prionotus scitulus, P. tribulus
Swims along the sand bottoms with its wing-like pectoral fins expanded. The modified ventral fins act like fingers, feeling the bottom for prey. Size: 6-12 cm.
$25.50
Bighead searobin (Prionotus tribulus)
Scorpaena brasiliensis
Red, orange, and brown, they blend into the sea bottom, and ambush passing shrimp. Although bristling with poisonous spines, they are a popular aquarium specimen.
$29.00
A scorpionfish (Scorpaena brasiliensis)
Chaetodipterus faber
Common to Florida and Caribbean water, schools of spadefish are frequently seen nibbling on jellyfish, hydroids, and feeding on small crabs and shrimp when the fish matures.
Price range: $45.00 through $56.50
Atlantic spadefish (Chaetodipterus faber)
Diplodus holbrookii
Less common than the regular pinfish but still very common. Found in coastal grass beds. Size 6 to 12 cm
$14.00
Lagodon rhomboides
3 inches to 6 inches, a very common aggressive fish available throughout the year. Hardy species that does well in aquariums.
$14.00
Lagodon rhomboides
A large colonial ascidian found attached to rocks. Its smooth, slippery test comes in a variety of handsome colors ranging through pink, green, red and lavender. Along many parts of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, beachcombers find these rubbery chunks of protoplasm cast upon the beach. They range from a few inches to chunks weighing 10 pounds, and produce good tadpole larvae in the spring.
$22.50
A white encrusting tunicate found on turtle grass. Test only a few millimeters thick; has small zooids. Abundant during the winter months.
$22.50
It is a shockingly red colonial ascidian that jumps out from the sandy benthic bottom and green sea grass meadows. It has large zooids and encrusting colonies that grow up to 6 inches in length. Size: 3-6 cm.
$25.50
Transparent solitary forms that grow in massive clusters. Internal organs can be viewed through the body wall. Gonads are large and distinctly visible; 20 or more larvae may be seen developing in the atrial cavity in summer. Available May through November. Size: 5-6 cm
$25.50
They look like small green transparent berries and grow as widely separated zooids borne on creeping stolons. They may represent a link between solitary and colonial ascidians. Sea grapes are a rich source of vanadium. Size of zooid: 1-2 mm. Size of cluster: 1-2 cm.
$25.50
It lives in the sand and mud buried with only its extraordinarily long siphons sticking up. Scrape the sand grains away from their body wall, and you get a clear internal view of the viscera, and can watch the heart pumping. Individuals range from 1-3 cm. in diameter.
$25.50
A large solitary tunicate that grows on wharf pilings and is fertile year round. Individuals are oblong; distinct siphons have four lobes. Central individuals in a clump may be elongated due to competition. Styela can tolerate greater environmental fluctuations than most ascidians. Excellent for disection. Will vigorously expel water when handled. Size: 12-14 cm.
$27.50
A brick red solitary tunicate will catch your eye as soon as you unpack it. They can be used for filtering particulate matter out of the sea water in closed system aquaria. Size: 6-8 cm.
$25.50
The laboratory sea squirt, is the largest of all Molgula species, and is therefore more suitable for dissection. The test is thin and leathery from the sand and mud embedded in it, but the animal can be easily removed by splitting the test between the siphons. Gonads are then visible with distinct, viable, large eggs and sperm. Gravid year round. Size: 3-5 cm.
$27.50
