Tabarca's Sea squirt

Aplidium tabarquense

It is a colonial sea squirt from the family Polyclinidae. Aplidium tabarquense is a Mediterranean endemic species. In 1991 Ramos-Esplá documented this species from the littoral zone of the Iberian Peninsula (Island of Tabarca) as new for science and as the first record for the Mediterranean, respectively.
Tabarca's Sea squirt - Aplidium tabarquense Artificial reefs dive site, Tabarca Island, Alicante. Aplidium tabarquense,Fall,Geotagged,Spain,Tabarca's Sea squirt

Appearance

It is a colonial sea squirt forming reddish orange cushions with zooid arrangements in regular
systems of two parallel series. When extracted, the zooids are orange in color and about 8–12
mm long.

Distribution

Mediterranean with further sightings in NE Atlantic and Adriatic Sea.

Habitat

Colonies are attached to rocks or on hard substrata such as artifical reefs, wrecks.

Reproduction

Members of the class Ascidiacea are hermaphroditic; both cross- and self-fertilization is typical. Life cycle: Eggs develop into lecithotrophic larva before metamorphosing into benthic adults.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/436690
https://www.sealifebase.se/summary/Aplidium-tabarquensis.html
https://www.mer-littoral.org/32/aplidium-tabarquensis.php
Ramos-Esplá AA (1991). Ascidias litorales del Mediterráneo
ibérico. Faunistica, ecología y biogeografía. PhD, University of
Alicante, Alicante, Spain (in Spanish).
Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionChordata
ClassAscidiacea
OrderAplousobranchia
FamilyPolyclinidae
GenusAplidium
SpeciesAplidium tabarquense
Photographed in
Spain