Family: Pyrosomatidae (pyrosomes, fire rollers)
Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa
(animals) >
Bilateria > Deuterostomia >
Chordata > Tunicata >
Thaliacea > Pyrosomatida
Three genera and eight species worldwide,
with all genera and seven species with broad
distributions that include southern African seas. There are no
endemic species in the region.
Genera native to southern Africa
Information from
World
Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), Lazarus & Dowler (1979) and
other publications listed on the
relevant taxon pages.
|
Pyrosoma
Four species worldwide, all of which have wide
pelagic distributions that include, or are likely to include, southern
African seas. |
 |
|
Pyrosomella Two species worldwide.
Pyrosomella verticillata has an Indo-Pacific distribution that includes southern African seas. |
|
|
Pyrostremma
Two species worldwide, both of which have wide pelagic distributions that
include southern African seas. |
 |
Key to species in southern African waters
(modified from van Soest 1981)
| 1 |
a |
Exterior of colony entirely smooth |
Pyrosomella verticillata |
| |
b |
Colony with projections or denticulations. |
2 |
| 2 |
a |
Colony with low triangular denticles
adjacent to each oral siphon (genus Pyrostremma). |
|
| |
b |
Colony with truncate processes, short or
long, some of which may contain oral siphons of zooids
(genus: Pyrosoma) |
|
| 3 |
a |
Test thick and opaque. Zooids longer than
wide. |
Pyrostremma spinosum |
| |
b |
Test thin, transparent. Zooids as
wide as long. |
Pyrostremma agassizi |
| 4 |
a |
Colony more-or-less globular |
5 |
| |
b |
Colony cylindrical, finger-shaped |
6 |
| 5 |
a |
Colony of tough consistency, opaque and
covered in numerous blunt projections with spines on them. |
Pyrosoma ovatum |
| |
b |
Colony soft and transparent with sparsely
distributed, elongate, smooth projections |
Pyrosoma godeauxi |
| 6 |
a |
Colony small, sexually mature at 2 cm long
and growing to longer than about 2.5 cm, with truncate
processes; oral siphon of zooid as broad as the branchial
basket. |
Pyrosoma aherniosum |
| |
b |
Colony larger, sexually mature at 4 cm and
reaching 60 cm in length. Oral siphon much narrower than the
branchial basket. |
Pyrosoma atlanticum |
Publications
- Deibel D., and Lowen B. 2011. A review of the life cycles
and life-history adaptations of pelagic tunicates to
environmental conditions. – ICES Journal of Marine Science,
doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsr159.
- 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.
- Van Zyl, R. P. 1960. A preliminary study of the salps and
doliolids off the west and south coasts of South Africa.
Investigational Rept. Div. Fisheries, Union of South Africa.
v.40, 31p.
Text by Hamish Robertson |
