sea squirts
Sessile marine filter-feeders
Sea squirts are marine invertebrates that attach themselves to rocks, docks, and other underwater surfaces.
Named for their habit of squirting water when disturbed, these filter-feeding creatures pump seawater through their bodies to extract nutrients.
Despite their simple, blob-like adult form, sea squirts begin life as tadpole-like larvae with a primitive spinal cord, making them surprisingly close relatives of vertebrates including humans.
- notochordEmbryonic axial support structure
- sessileAttached at base
- filter feedingExtracting nutrients from water
- invertebrateAnimal sans backbone
- siphonsMoves fluid via suction
filter feeder · ocean floor · biofouling · vanadium · hermaphroditic · encrusting · metamorphosis · rubbery · transparent · primitive · substrate · tadpole · marine · chordate · gill slits · attached · pilings · tide
- marine invertebratescrabs, lobsters, shrimp, clams, mussels
- tidepoolstidepools, tide pools, tide pool, rockpools, rock pools
- filter feedersfilter feeder, filter feeders, filter feeding, baleen whale, whale shark
- seafloor lifesand dollar, sand dollars, brittle star, brittle stars, clam
- tunicatestunicate, salp, Thalia
- protovertebrateshagfish, lamprey, lampreys
sea squirtspredatory fish
Carnivore of the waters
sharks · orcas · barracuda · moray eels · apex predators