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	 Leathery sea squirt, Styela clava
|  | Query: Large wall brown | Result: 18th of 33 |  | 
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Animal Pictures Archive for smart phones
^o^| Leathery sea squirt, Styela clava
 
 Species Summary
 
 Styela clava
 Herdman, 1881
 
 USGS - http://nas.er.usgs.gov/tunicates/
 
 Taxonomy
 Phylum: 	Chordata
 Subphylum: 	Tunicata
 Class: 	Ascidiacea
 Order: 	Pleurogona
 Suborder: 	Stolidobranchia
 Family: 	Styelidae
 Genus: 	Styela
 Description
 Styela clava is a large, club-shaped solitary ascidian with a tough leathery body wall (test), growing up to 160mm long. It consists of an elongated, cylindrical body on top of a stalk of variable length. It can be brownish-white, yellowish-brown or reddish-brown. There are two short siphons towards the top of the organism, each with a 4-lobed opening. The body has conspicuous tubercles and rounded swellings on the upper portion and rounded longitudinal ridges on the lower half. The stalk surface is creased. Internally, the gut is a simple U-shaped loop.
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