Tunicates

Diplosoma virens

• Group: Other
• Typical depth: 0–5 m

This colonial tunicate grows in thin sheets over reef stones, often on the sunlit edge rather than the top, in the shallowest few metres. Its tissues are packed with a green photosynthetic partner, the microbe Prochloron, so the whole colony feeds partly on sunlight while still filtering plankton from the water.

Taxonomy: Animalia › Chordata › Ascidiacea › Aplousobranchia › Didemnidae › Diplosoma

Species data via the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), AphiaID 250422.