Pyura tessellata

Erling Svensen Another nice one from yesterdays dive. The last 2-3 years I started to see this nice tunicate. They grow to only 1,5 cm and are very common in the fjords in South Norway from 10 meter and down.

Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat I think of Pyura tessellata

Erling Svensen Agree....

George Brown Lots of tunicates in this photo but what is the big one (about 40mm wide) in the middle? Pyura tessellata?

Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat Hi, it's too tall to be P. tesselata, and it doesn't look like that, see http://www.mer-littoral.org/32/pyura-tessellata.php I'd rather say Pyura microcosmus.

George Brown Thanks Wilfried.

Kirstie Harris Any ideas what this is? It was growing in a boiler hole on the Persier wreck in Plymouth.

Kirstie Harris Thank you :)

Sarah Bowen Sorry it's not Polycarpa pomaria, that one is white and wrinkly with a thin pink line round the ends of the siphons. More likely Pyura tessellata. How big?

Kirstie Harris Mmm, about thumbnail size.

David Kipling This would be the right sort of habitat ... under a rock hanging down in a tidal stream (or, in this case, a hole in a wreck). Can you post a closeup of the stripey siphons please Kirstie?

David Kipling http://www.habitas.org.uk/marinelife/species.asp?item=ZD2420

Kirstie Harris David, I can post a close up tomorrow night.

Becky Hitchin will be interesting to see a close-up!

Nick Owen Difference between Pyura tesselata and P. squamulosa please? Have some samples which may be either. Lumpy bits on the test appear quite discrete and rounded rather than "polygonal tiles" butting up to each other. Orange-brown with brown lumpy bits. On cobbles and upright in moderately current-swept locations though also on undersides of cobbles. Contracted unfortunately - the pp ate though its styrene tube making an odd non-sticky jelly presumed no good for squirts ... (oops)

Sarah Bowen Oooh - Nick, at least you're still alive - are you feeling better? Sorry you missed Strangford.

Sarah Bowen And in answer to your question, we're still not quite sure either....(yet)

Becky Hitchin Have also discovered that slightly wrinkly other Pyura can be quite difficult to tell from P. tesselata

David Kipling Def needs some work this whole Pyura/Polycarpa group. At least with some having stripey siphons we might be able to get some reliable-ish features.

Becky Hitchin Our Portrush trip was one complete mess of Pyura and Polycarpa carpets. Remind me to tell you about it sometime!

Becky Hitchin If you're using menthol, just a flake or two in a bowl of water, sit back and wait for hours. And then some more hours. Then decide they probably aren't that relaxed after all

Nick Owen Agree about the menthol. Tried some on a Pyura from Scotland. To Sarah: Yep, still alive, but not diving yet so earning lots of brownie points coxing for people...

Nick Owen Pyuras I've seen so far seem very shy, especially the ones under boulders. By the time you turn them up, they've pulled their siphons in and seem reluctant to start feeding again. Hours of fun.....

Kirstie Harris Ok, here it is zoomed in a bit.

David Kipling Those siphons have the colour of what we tend to record as Pyura microcosmos, just to make life more complex. We normally don't see the body (you're is usefully upside down so no silt has settled) so can't tell you if the red colour is correct. To really sort these out we need more ground-truthing of the photographic in situ appearance (ie take photo then a body, and ID by internal anatomy).

Kirstie Harris If I get back onto the Persier I'll get some more photos.