Aplidium nordmanni

Blaise Bullimore RIght then - first venture into lobbing a piccie up here. Crappy, cropped photo taken in lousy conditions. Small squirt, total colony size about a centimetre across. In scruffy algal turf only a few metres below chart datum. Semi-exposed steep rock, South Pembrokeshire. Anyone any bright ideas for ID?

Anne Bay-Nouailhat Well, it looks like a small specimen of Aplidium nordmanni

George Brown Is this Aplidium nordmanni with six lobes round each oral siphon? And is the tunicate to the right, with the orange spot on each zooid, Aplidium punctum? Many thanks.

Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat agree with you : A. nordmani and A. punctum

George Brown Thank you Wilfried.

George Brown I've been calling the red/pink tunicate in the middle of the picture Aplidium nordmanni. In view of what's been mentioned this last few days I'm now not so sure. Also what is the name of the pale tunicate at 12 o'clock and smaller specimens at 3 o'clock? Loch Eriboll and many other sites around the north.

Joanne Porter Is this the same thing we were seeing in Shetland George?

David Kipling Looks like nordmanni to me - 6-lobed siphons, single red lump with white bits.

George Brown Yes Joanne I'm sure it is. On all the exposed sites there were small examples of this dotted all over the place. And thanks for the confirmation David, it's the same formula I was using! Can you guys help me out with the paler, orangey ones? Many thanks.

Bernard Picton I've seen these George, but I don't have a name for them... Not even certain of that being A. nordmanni...

George Brown Many thanks Bernard. How very interesting. I've been seeing this from the Small Isles right up to Shetland so it's not rare. I can almost predict where it can be found. A. nordmanni till further notice?...

Richard Yorke The sooner we get a book the better, though these facebook pages are teaching me a great deal without one. I had been thinking that was Sidnyum elegans not Aplidium nordmanni but now you point out the 6 lobed siphons and I notice that Habitas mentions there is a pink form I realise I have got to go back and check and probably change the keywords on my pictures.

Richard Yorke As to your initial question George, the pale tunicates look very similar to the Aplidium punctum at 9 o,clock. Is there a form without the spot? I see from Habitas there is a form with white spots.

George Brown Many thanks for this Richard. Will check this out. Mind you, if Bernard is not sure, what chance does the rest of us have! I'm going for extreme close-up shots of inlet and outlets to assist future ID. Any other features we should be focussing on?

Bernard Picton Side-on to show colony shape at edge, stalk, etc.?

Jon Chamberlain White squirt being photo bombed by what? Prizes for naming either... http://www.flickr.com/photos/underwaterinferno/8072334201/in/set-72157631733973528/ Beadnell Point, Northumberland 7m rock wall

David Kipling I think it's starting to regress for the winter so looks a tad weird. For a white polyclinid how about Aplidium turbinatum as a starting point?

David Kipling (I assume 7m refers to the depth recorded?)

Jon Chamberlain Yep

Bernard Picton I think Aplidium nordmanni. Sidnyum turbinatum always forms small separate lobes.

Richard Yorke D. fulgens (I hope) off Llyn Peninsula last weekend

David Kipling Yah! Certainly looks like it. Unlike Lissoclinum the inhalant openings aren't randomly scattered, you see areas where they seem to be in a line, and also lighter-coloured empty areas leading off from some of the cloacal cavities (almost like a sponge's water channel). I'll let Anne Bay-Nouailhat have the last word but I'd agree with you. Most northerly UK record ;)

David Kipling (next job: what's the squirt to the right bottom and can you do the little branching bryozoan just above it?!?)

Richard Yorke I would think Aplidium nordmanni and Omalosecosa ramulosa

David Kipling Could it be Exidmonea atlantica? The two look a bit similar (see some pics on the bryozoan group).

Richard Yorke I think it is too big for that and there was plenty of Omalosecosa ramulosa around. That bit of this picture is too fuzzy when zoomed in on to be 100% sure though.

Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat Very nice D. fulgens

George Brown I've been calling the red/pink tunicate in the middle of the picture Aplidium nordmanni. In view of what's been mentioned this last few days I'm now not so sure. Also what is the name of the pale tunicate at 12 o'clock and smaller specimens at 3 o'clock? Loch Eriboll and many other sites around the north.

Joanne Porter Is this the same thing we were seeing in Shetland George?

David Kipling Looks like nordmanni to me - 6-lobed siphons, single red lump with white bits.

George Brown Yes Joanne I'm sure it is. On all the exposed sites there were small examples of this dotted all over the place. And thanks for the confirmation David, it's the same formula I was using! Can you guys help me out with the paler, orangey ones? Many thanks.

Bernard Picton I've seen these George, but I don't have a name for them... Not even certain of that being A. nordmanni...

George Brown Many thanks Bernard. How very interesting. I've been seeing this from the Small Isles right up to Shetland so it's not rare. I can almost predict where it can be found. A. nordmanni till further notice?...

Richard Yorke The sooner we get a book the better, though these facebook pages are teaching me a great deal without one. I had been thinking that was Sidnyum elegans not Aplidium nordmanni but now you point out the 6 lobed siphons and I notice that Habitas mentions there is a pink form I realise I have got to go back and check and probably change the keywords on my pictures.

Richard Yorke As to your initial question George, the pale tunicates look very similar to the Aplidium punctum at 9 o,clock. Is there a form without the spot? I see from Habitas there is a form with white spots.

George Brown Many thanks for this Richard. Will check this out. Mind you, if Bernard is not sure, what chance does the rest of us have! I'm going for extreme close-up shots of inlet and outlets to assist future ID. Any other features we should be focussing on?

Bernard Picton Side-on to show colony shape at edge, stalk, etc.?

Chris Whitehead Can anybody identify this for me. It was found stuck to the underside of a rock in a pool at Bigbury-on-sea, south Devon. It was about 5cm across, fairly flattened in shape and of a tough, rubbery cosistency. Tunicates?

Chris Whitehead I think it could be Aplidium proliferum or Aplidium nordmanni, although it seems some authorities believe they're the same species anyway.

David Kipling Charlotte Bolton ... Welcome to the squirt group :). Could you do me a favour and post those pictures of Aplidium nordmanni (the red mounded colonial squirt) that you saw in IoS in this group, please? There's an active discussion about this species at the moment and those pictures would be good to throw into the mix. You can either re-post, or else set the existing pictures to Public and them Share with the group. Thanks Charlotte.

David Kipling The album is the one in Seasearch identifications ...

David Kipling http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.411574535532530&type=1

Charlotte Bolton No worries - will sort it out today - sneaky access from work, no broadband at home... :-(