Individual red-throated ascidian
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Herdmania momus
Alyssa Budd (2011)
The red-throated ascidian, Herdmania momus is distributed across the globe and is a common inhabitant of the Great Barrier Reef. As part of the cryptic fauna, these intriguing animals are often overlooked yet when sighted, they contribute greatly to the beauty, magnificence and wonder of the reef. Defining these animals, is an anterior pair of brightly-coloured, trumpet-shaped siphons decorated with longitudinal stripes however, throughout the species' pan-tropical distribution a bewildering array of polymorphisms occur. Large variability both between and within populations has lead to great confusion over the taxonomic classification of H. momus which is consequently reliant on molecular genetics. On the Great Barrier Reef, the Heron Island population of red-throated ascidians is comprised of relatively large, translucent, peach-coloured specimens found on the underside of dead coral plates. Although these animals are fairly common on the reef, distribution appears random and upturning a colonised coral plate requires a bit of luck or a lot of persistence. Possible explanations for this patchy distribution may lie in larval settlement cues, discussed under the settlement induction tab on this site. |