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Nephtheis (Oxycorynia) fascicularis
Plant? Coral?..No.. It is tunicates! Most concretely, it is a species of tunicates where each colony is a spherical cluster of small ascidians, on a fleshy stalk. Total height of the colony: 5-12 cm. The branched stems are formed by tiny polyps called zooids. These are dark green zooids with yellow or grey bands. They are not photosynthetic, and live on plankton and small organic particles obtained from the water currents.
is a species of tunicate that is native to the shallow reefs of Indonesia. Central Indo-Pacific. Central Western Indo-Pacific.
4 Comments
Thanks for the comments! :-) It was equally surprising for me to find out these were tunicates.
Amazing how many forms these creatures hold. Beautiful shots Marta. Gracias.
Never saw these before!
Beautiful !