Charlie99
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An article in today's New Bedford (Mass.) Standard Times reports on the proliferation of tunicates in the Georges Banks.
Lead paragraphs:
Lead paragraphs:
A growing population of invasive sea squirts on Georges Bank could threaten commercial fish and sea scallop stocks by smothering their feeding and breeding grounds, according to scientists.
A new survey released yesterday shows that sea squirt colonies are spreading rapidly over an 88-square-mile study area in Georges Bank. Since last year, the area covered by the colonies has doubled at 75 percent of the observed sites, according to the survey.
Sea squirts are tunicates, or invertebrates that have a firm, flexible covering that resembles a tunic. They form thick mats when thousands of the tiny filter-feeding creatures attach themselves to gravel, ship hulls, docks and other hard surfaces. The squirts found on Georges Bank are known to scientists as a species of the genus Didemnum.