Multimedia Gallery
Lissoclinum patella Ascidian
Lissoclinum patella (Gottschaldt, 1898) in the Spermonde Archipelago, southwestern Sulawesi, Indonesia. This species is one of the most studied ascidians because of its bioactive metabolites and natural products, which may be of great pharmaceutical value for a range of human diseases. In this image, you can see that the L. patella colony is overgrowing living corals. Although few coral reef organisms are able to overgrow living corals, the L. patella colony seen here is able to do so, probably--at least in part--because of its bioactive chemicals.
Ascidians are animals that live in seawater. In the early stage of life, they look like a tiny fish with a tail that they use to swim around until they have located a spot to settle down. As soon as they settle, they lose their tail and fasten themselves on the substratum, growing and living the remainder of their life as a sessile animal. Ascidians have a kind of heart, blood, muscles, "lung" and stomach, just as most animals do.
There are two groups of ascidians: solitary and colonial. If you were to examine with a microscope, the insides of an Ascidian from the colony type, you would see many small, individual ascidians. (Date of Image: June 2000)
Note: Please see "Special Restrictions" at bottom of page regarding use of this image.
Credit: Adriaan Gittenberger (www.ascidians.com)
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Special Restrictions: In principal, this image can be used on a royalty-free basis for non-commercial purposes by universities, museums, schools and NSF funded projects, as long as the credit "Adriaan Gittenberger, www.ascidians.com" is added and the photographer is notified (gittenberger@yahoo.com). In case of a publication that is available to the general public, Adriaan Gittenberger would like to receive a hardcopy issue/reprint (or the Web address when it is used on the internet only). For commercial purposes like the production of a field guide, pleas contact (gittenberger@yahoo.com.
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