name: Ascidians

flavor_db_name_variants: ascidians

source: foodb

status: draft

food_db_id: Ascidians

id: 832

name_scientific: Ascidiacea

description: Ascidiacea (commonly known as the ascidians or sea squirts) is a class in the Tunicata 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 substratum, such as rocks and shells. There are 2,300 species of ascidians and three main types: solitary ascidians, social ascidians that form clumped communities by attaching at their bases, and compound ascidians that consist of many small individuals (each individual is called a zooid) forming colonies up to several meters in diameter. Sea squirts feed by taking in water through the oral siphon. The water enters the mouth and pharynx, flows through mucus-covered gill slits (also called pharyngeal stigmata) into a water chamber called the atrium, then exits through the atrial siphon.

itis_id: 158854

wikipedia_id: Ascidiacea

picture_file_name: 861.jpg

picture_content_type: image/jpeg

picture_file_size: 210689

picture_updated_at: 2012-04-20T09:32:18.000Z

legacy_id: null

food_group: Aquatic foods

food_subgroup: Other aquatic foods

food_type: Type 2

created_at: 2011-12-21T01:50:02.000Z

updated_at: 2019-05-14T18:05:34.000Z

creator_id: 2

updater_id: 2

export_to_afcdb: false

category: specific

ncbi_taxonomy_id: 7713

export_to_foodb: false

public_id: FOOD00832