Sea Pork -

U-1800 SEA PORK, Amaroucium stellatum

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.

HABITAT

They can range from the Woods Hole region to Florida.

DIET

Tunicates are filter feeders. They filter hundreds of gallons of water each day through their siphon and filter out small, planktonic particles

ANATOMY

(Miner, 1950)

ADDITIONAL READING

Direct absorption of amino acids and glucose by the branchial sac and the digestive tract of benthic filter‐feeders (Ascidians)

A Comparison of the Metal Content of Some Benthic Species from Coastal Waters of the Florida Panhandle Using High-Resolution Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) Analysis