• Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Chordata
  • Subphylum: Tunicata
  • Class: Ascidiacea
  • Order: Aplousobranchia
  • Family: Polyclinidae
  • Scientific name: Synoicum incrustatum
  • Norwegian: fruktsekkedyr

Characteristics:

This is a colonial sea squirt. Each animal (zooid) is spherical with a diameter less than 1 cm. There is a single exhalent and a larger number of smaller inhalant siphons. They are often clustered together in small colonies covering 10-100 cm2. The zooids are colorless, but the colonies usually take a grey or pale brown color, depending on the environment. They are often encrusted with sand.

Habitat:

It is often seen on hard substrate, preferably on current-exposed locations.

Distribution:

It is registered in the North-East Atlantic Ocean, including the British Isles, Norway and the Atlantic coasts of central Europe.