Cyclosalpa floridana (Apstein, 1894)

Franco, P., Dahms, H. - U., Lo, W. - T. & Hwang, J. - S., 2017, Pelagic tunicates in the China Seas, Journal of Natural History 51 (15 - 16), pp. 917-936 : 933

Cyclosalpa floridana

Morphology

Solitary zooids measure up to 13 mm with interrupted body muscles dorsally. MI to MII are fused dorsally with the intermediate muscle which joins MI laterally. MI to MV fused ventrally into a single mass. MVI is interrupted but MVII is continuous ventrally. Light organs are weakly developed, more or less continuous, between MI and MVI or MII and MVI. Dorsal tubercle is C-shaped. The aggregated zooids measure up to 9.5 mm in length and they have only three body muscles (probably MI and MII are fused). The intermediate muscle joins MI laterally, and MIII and MIV are fused dorsally (authors’ personal observations; Marine Species Identification Portal 2017).

Biogeography

The species is found in sub-tropical waters (WoRMS Editorial Board 2017).