Ascidiacea Sea Squirts

The 85th plate, illustrating Ascidiacea, from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur ... more

by Ernst Haeckel

Title

Ascidiacea Sea Squirts

Artist

Ernst Haeckel

Medium

Painting - Watercolor And Lithograph

Description

The 85th plate, illustrating Ascidiacea, from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur

(Art Forms of Nature). Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (February 16, 1834 –

August 9, 1919), also written von Haeckel, was an eminent German biologist,

naturalist, philosopher, physician, professor and artist who discovered, described

and named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life

forms, and coined many terms in biology, including phylum, phylogeny, ecology and

the kingdom Protista.

Ascidiacea (commonly known as ascidians or sea squirts) is a class in the

Urochordata subphylum of sac-like marine invertebrate filter feeders. Ascidians are

characterized by a tough outer "tunic" made of the polysaccharide tunicin, as

compared to other tunicates which are less rigid.

Ascidians are found all over the world, usually in shallow water with salinities over

2.5%. While members of the Thaliacea and Larvacea swim freely like plankton, sea

squirts are sessile animals: they remain firmly attached to substrata such as rocks

and shells.

Uploaded

May 4th, 2011