Didemnum molle
Didemnum molle, outlined in green, the common Egestionsöffnung ( outflow ) of all individual animals. When you expand (by clicking the image) visible, the small single ingestion openings ( inflow ) of the individual animals.
The Green Riffseescheide ( Didemnum molle ) is a sessile, colonial (Animal poles forming ) tunicate ( Tunicata ), which occurs very numerous in the coral reefs of the tropical Indo-Pacific. The Green Riffseescheide lives on exposed hard floors at depths of one to 70 meters. The animals are the most common sea squirts and colonize artificial substrates such as old fishing lines or fishing nets.
Features
The colonies are spherical, barrel or urn -shaped and reach a height of three to ten centimeters. Is located at the top of the outflow of the common cloacal space of all individual animals ( zooids ), the outer wall of the colony is covered with tiny intake ports, one for each individual animal. A single zooid is only 1.5 mm long. The jacket contains spherical, morning star shaped calcarous ( 0.005 to 0.015 mm in diameter), but the outer skin is very soft. The fine threads with which the Green Riffseescheide mounted on the substrate, containing Kalksklerite. The colony is whitish, green, white or brownish colored. Young colonies are mainly green. The color depends on pigments, the concentration of the cyanobacteria of the genus Kalksklerite and Prochloron that live in symbiosis with the Green Riffseescheide and colonize the common cloacal chamber of the colony. The interior and the edge of the outflow are colored by the Prochloron cyanobacteria intense green. The Green Riffseescheide feeds partly of nutrients that produce the Prochloron bacteria. Otherwise, they are filter feeders.
From aquariums observations where the Green Riffseescheide slowly at a aquarium glass moving upwards, you know that they can change their location.
Reproduction
The propagation takes place all year round. There is an internal fertilization takes, the larvae develop first in the common cloacal chamber, and are then released into the open water to find a new location. During the short, free-swimming stage, the larvae Prochloron cyanobacteria lead to a hairy swelling at the back of the body with it. From the tadpole, the tail 9 mm long larvae initially a single zooids, which cuts off more zooids by budding, forming a bull Stock evolves over time. A large animal Stock can share and establish daughter colonies, which have not yet connected by mantle processes. Therefore, one finds Green Riffseescheiden usually in dense groups of several colonies together.