Oikopleura dioica

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia > Chordata > Tunicata > Larvacea > Family: Oikopleuridae > Subfamily: Oikopleurinae > Tribe: Labiata > Genus: Oikopleura

Distribution and habitat

Semi-cosmopolitan in temperate to tropical waters. Recorded from the southwest coast of South Africa by Lazarus & Dowler (1979). Recorded by Gibbons (1999) as being common in the zooplankton from the Benguela Current region.

Publications

• Gibbons MJ. 1999. An introduction to the zooplankton of the Benguela Current region. National Book Publishers, Cape Town.
• Lazarus, B. I. and D. Dowler. 1979. Pelagic tunicata off the west and south-west coasts of South Africa, 1964-1965. Fish. Bull. S. Afr. 12:93-119.
• López-Urrutia A, Acuña JL, Irigoien X, Harris R. 2003. Food limitation and growth in temperate epipelagic appendicularians (Tunicata). Marine Ecology Progress Series 252: 143-157.

Text by Hamish Robertson