Styela coriacea

Leathery Tunicate:

Leathery Tunicate (Styela coriacea): looks a bit like Spiny-headed tunicate (Boltenia villosa), but without any hint of a stalk, like Sea Hedgehog (Halocynthia igaboja) without being truly hairy, like Warty tunicate (Pyura haustor) except for the long siphons, and like Cone tunicate (Styela truncata) without the tapering top and warty or ridged appearance.

Doyne Kessler's book on "Alaska's Saltwater Fishes and Other Sea Life" may lead some naturalists to identify this species as Styela rustica. In our region, this refers to Styela rustica macrenteron, now accepted as Styela macrenteron, an apparently more northern subtidal species which can be distinguished by the greater average size, lack of branched spines, and presence of an apical spine.

Local Notes

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References

Weblinks

• WoRMS page for Styela coriacea
• UnterWasser Welt Ostsee page for Styela coriacea

• WoRMS Page for Styela coriacea
• Search Arctos Database for Styela coriacea (Southeast only)
• Search Arctos Database for Styela coriacea (entire database)
• Encyclopedia of Life search for Styela coriacea
• iNaturalist Observations for Styela coriacea in Southeast Alaska

Other References

• Kozloff 1996
• Van Name 1945

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  Leathery Tunicate (Styela coriacea)

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