Tunicados: characteristics and examples

We will begin by commenting on the main characteristics of the tunicates or urocordered:

• The tunicates have barrel shape and have two siphons that the water passes through: one exhaling and another inhalation.
• His name comes from the Tunic that surrounds your body that gives you exterior protection, but also flexibility. It is made of a polysaccharide similar to cellulose.
• They belong to Group of the Cordsas well as us, because the larvae have a notocorda in the caud area with support function. This structure also occurs in us only when we are in embryonic state.
• Can be found in lonely or colonial form where several individuals are associated under a gelatinous matrix. In colonial form they can measure up to several meters long. Here you can read about colonial associations: what are, types and examples.
• They can Lack of movement and live anchored On the sea floor, but there are also some who live Always drifting in the plankton and suspended in the water column.
• They have a heart that pumps blood to canals and lagoons to irrigate all organs. This blood is light green. From time to time they stop their heart to circulate in reverse direction and thus make their circulatory system work efficiently.
• Its excretions are important for the ecosystem balance which provides particulate carbon and food to the ocean. The majority lack the excretory system and limit themselves to suppurate the ammonium through their tissues. Others can store urea crystals in vesicles, but they only accumulate them and do not release them abroad.
• The breathing of the tunicates is little studied, but it is known that They breathe through siphon inhaling and going through the pharynx. Through these structures they capture the necessary oxygen to be taken to the blood plasma.
• They have bright colors like red, green, white, yellow or blue. They are usually translucent With colored dyes. Some may even be bioluminescent emitting lights. In this other post we tell you what bioluminescence and examples are.

There are four kinds of tunicates:

• Thaliacea class or salt: These are pelagic tunicates, that is, free life, which use their siphons to create a jet propulsion to move. They can also be found in colonial forms several meters long made up of numerous individuals. They are of gelatinous consistency and are more common in tropical and subtropical areas.
• Appendicular or appendicular class: They live locked in a mucus capsule and keep the larval tail throughout their lives that helps him mobilize creating currents in the water. They are just 5 millimeters long, bioluminescent and lonely.
• SOBERA OR ASPIRACULATA CLASS: They have biomineralized structures, such as microscopic spines on their tunic. They maintain their nervous cord of the Larval phase.
• Ascidiacea class or ascidias: They are also known as sea syringes. These are benthic forms that are on the seabed. They do not have a dorsal nervous cord when they are adult, they circulate water through their siphon and can be lonely or colonial. You can know this class much better reading our article about ascidias: what are, characteristics and species.

These are the characteristics of the urocordered habitat:

• Tunicados always live in Marine environments and are cosmopolitasfor what they are around the world. Know more about cosmopolitan species: what is and examples here.
• They can inhabit All kinds of depths: From shallow areas to abyssal areas.
• It is common to see them subject to ships, docks or rocks, as they can hold up with any type of substratewhether natural or artificial.
• Are more frequent in rocky coasts and in the mud of deep seas.

They feed through the Water filtration through their siphons. Being organisms without movement, they help marine currents so that Water with plankton suspended to them.

This water is pumped to the perforated pharynx where the particles arrive. Here they secrete, through an organ called endostyl, a sticky substance to catch them. Your intestine is shaped by U.

In this other article you can know what plankton and its importance are.

These are the most relevant aspects of the reproduction of the urocordates:

• Most tunicates are hermaphroditasthat is, a copy has both female and male reproductive organs, but there can also be separate sexes. We recommend you read this other article about hermaphrodite animals: reproduction and examples.
• Its fertilization is externalwhere female and male gametes are released until they are found in the water and fertilized. From here an egg emerges, where future tunicates will complete their embryonic development. Once this is over, the tunicized larva will form. The larva has the shaped shape and is free life. He does not feed and lacks mouth because his only job is to find a home in which he sees that all his needs are covered. This stadium is very fast and they only go through him for a few hours. They secrete a gelatinous substance when they find the ideal site to settle. To do so, they place their heads on the ground and the other structures will be absorbed little by little to form the adult with a characteristic barrel form. We advise you to learn more about this type of fertilization reading this article about external fertilization: what is and animals.
• There may be too asexual reproduction. In this case an initial colony is fragmented to form new colonies equal to it. You can expand this information reading this other post about asexual reproduction: what is, types and examples.

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