DISSEMINATION
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DISSEMINATION |
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| Kingdom | Animalia | 
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| Phylum | Chordata | |
| Class | Ascidiacea | |
| Order | Phlebobranchia | |
| Family | Cionidae | |
| Genus | Ciona | |
| Species | intestinalis | |
| Classification | Linnaeus, 1767 | |
| Common name | sea vase | |
| Size | up to 15 - 25 centimeters |
| Geographic Range | distributed in many temperated parts of the world. |
| Physical Characteristics | it has a cylindrical body formed by a thick gelatinous tunic. The oral siphon, from which tha animal takes up the water, is longer than the cloacal one, form which the water is pulled out. It is fixed to the substratum by short radicles. The body is white or yellow - green and it can have some orange marks around the siphons. |
| Notes | it tolerates different levels of salinity and strong pollution. It is short-living, but fast-growing. It colonizes very rapidly new areas cleared by abnormal fluctuation of temperature or salinity. |
| Habitat | it lives on hard substrata from the surface to 500 meters deep, sometimes it is found also on seaweeds. |
| Food habits | plankton. |
| Riproduction | it is hermaphrodite, eggs are layed and fertilized in the water. |
| Sources | |
| References | ITIS Integrated Taxonomic Information System www.MondoMarino.net Encyclopedia of Marine Life of Britain and Ireland |
| Web References | http://www.itis.usda.gov/index.html http://www.mondomarino.net/ http://www.habitas.org.uk/marinelife/ |
| Source of the photo | http://www.habitas.org.uk/marinelife/ |
Ciona
intestinalis
