Doliolum denticulatum
Quoy and Gaimard (1834)
Download a fact sheet for Doliolum denticulatum (PDF 287KB)
Taxonomy
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Thaliacea |
| Order | Doliolida |
| Family | Doliolidae |
| Genus | Doliolum |
| Species | denticulatum |
Size
- Gonozooid length up to 10 mm
- Nurse length up to 2 mm
Distinguishing characteristics
Gonozooid (Blastozooid)
- 8 muscle bands
- Dextral arched intestine
- Gill slits are strongly arched from M2 dorsally to M5, then curving at 2/3 and running to M3 ventrally
- Endostyle is short, from M2 to M4
- Testis is long and swollen, situated horizontally in front of M3, sometimes beyond M2
- Differentiated from D. nationalis by the length of the testes, the curved form of the gill slits and looking at where the gills are situated
Oozoids
- 9 muscle bands
- 4 pairs of gill slits
- Dorso-ventral process is in relation to M7
- Endostyle is from M2 to M5
- Oesophage concavity is downwards
- Intestinal tube is stretched sagittally
Nurses
- Barrel shaped, without visceral mass, except for a heart
- Budding on the dorso-ventral processs
- M2-M8 fused in a continuous sheet
- Nurses of Doliolum nationalis and Doliolum denticulatum cannot be separated
Distribution
- Widespread in all oceans from 40°N to 40°S (following approximately the 10°C isotherm in the north and the 15°C isotherm in the south)
Ecology
References
- Boltovskoy, D. (Ed.) (2005). Zooplankton of South Atlantic, dvd ETI Bioinformatics.
- Godeaux, J., Q. Bone and J.-C. Braconnot, 1998. Anatomy of Thaliacea. In: Q. Bone (ed.), 1998. The biology of pelagic tunicates. Oxford University Press, Oxford. pp 1-24.
- Marine species identification portal, http://species-identification.org/index.php
- van Couwelaar, M. (2003). Zooplankton and micronekton of the North Sea. Expert Center for Taxonomic Identification, Amsterdam.