GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist has written a blog about science since 4 August 2004 (the early years are archived 
The photographer writes; On the same dive as I took the picture of the mullet (yesterday's image of the day), I took this one under the Port Noarlunga jetty. I came across this little character (length about 100-120mm and the siphons about 25mm diameter). I guess it is related to sea squirts/cunjevoi and I have been using the CSIRO website [to identify it] but there is not too much information there. Stolidobranchia(?), ascidiacea(?). Just another poorly recognised (at least by me!) coinhabitant of this planet. Port Noarlunga is about 10km south of Adelaide in South Australia.
Image: stephenk at internode dot on dot net.
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind all of us of the grandeur of the natural world and that there is a world out there that is populated by millions of unique species. We are a part of this world whether we like it or not: we have a choice to either preserve these species or to destroy them in search of short-term monetary gains. But if we decide to destroy these other life forms, the least we can do is to know what we are destroying by learning that they exist. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (I prefer JPG format) that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd like it to be credited.
.
Comments
Any bagpipers in the audience missing their equipment?
Posted by: Mustafa Mond, FCD | March 12, 2007 5:13 PM
It almost looks to me as if two individuals got set up too close to each other and that their accretions have merged to make them look like one organism.
Posted by: chezjake | March 12, 2007 6:06 PM
It is a tunicate. Please see the following article by Dr. Ron Shimek for more information about them.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rs/index.php
I have several in my fish tank, and they look like that one. They seem to be reproducing in my tank. They are pretty neat animals. They are chordates and start out as free swiming larvae, but once they settle, they lose most of their nervous system. They all have two siphons, an incurrent and an excurrent siphon.
For other articles about saltwater animals by Dr. Ron, see the list on his website:
http://www.ronshimek.com/Online%20Articles%201.htm
His main focus for the articles are saltwater aquarium animals and ecosystems, but he has a lot of other good stuff as well.
-David
Posted by: David | March 12, 2007 8:12 PM
Myself, when a kid in Sydney, loved to make the exposed cunjevoi in rockpools squirt.
The much abused Daniel Dennett aphorism is good to fit here I think:
The juvenile sea squirt wanders through the sea searching for a suitable rock or hunk of coral to cling to and make its home for life. For this task, it has a rudimentary nervous system. When it finds its spot and takes root, it doesn't need its brain anymore so it eats it! (It's rather like getting tenure.) -- Daniel Dennett, _Consciousness Explained_, p. 177
Posted by: Nan McIntyre | March 13, 2007 2:18 AM
I, for one, welcome our new tubular overlords!
Posted by: csrster | March 13, 2007 6:07 AM
I would gladly trade my brain for a filter-feeding meal ticket.
Posted by: biosparite | March 13, 2007 11:04 AM
Ta for the link David
Posted by: stephenk | March 13, 2007 10:36 PM
"My purpose for posting these images is to remind all of us of the grandeur of the natural world and that there is a world out there that is populated by millions of unique species. We are a part of this world..."
Thank you for making that reminder part of our context here!
Best regards
Posted by: editor, Sustainability Southeast | March 15, 2007 5:46 PM