Tunicate..?

[Vie]

Would like to know the name (common and scientific) of this lovely blue tunicate (?) please...

Found at Kalanggaman Island (Visayan Sea, Republic of the Philippines).

 

[donnyb]

"Phlebobranch"
Genus: Rhopalaea

 

[Vie]

How about Clavelina caerulea ?

 

[donnyb]

I have seen the same one described as Rhopalaea spp., Rhopalaea crassa, so take your pick I guess...

Google Image Result for http://www.deepseaimages.com/dsilibrary/data/1631/2006-08-12_18-09-21.jpg

 

[AlaskaDiver]

Lovely photo. It is a Rhopalea spp. as Donnyb mentioned.

 

[Vie]

Lovely photo. It is a Rhopalea spp. as Donnyb mentioned.

Here's the full photo with a nice Nembrotha kubaryana next to the Rhopalaea.

LeslieH (posting on Wetpixel) pointed me towards the paper Ascidians from the tropical western Pacific by Françoise and Claude Monniot ("the Monniots are among the top authorities on tunicates in general and tropical Pacific ones in particular") where the blue Rhopalaea was identified as Rhopalaea fusca Herdman, 1880.

"The colour is characteristic and concentrated in the tunic. The thoraces are of an intense blue (Fig. 124E), while the siphons are rimmed with a thin orange line and an irregular blackish band... This spectacular species is one of the most photographed ascidians in guides to the Indo-Pacific fauna." - Zoosystema 23(2), 2001, p. 336