The ciliary current of Phallusia [Ascidiacea] and the squirting of sea squirts

Carlisle, D.B. (1966) The ciliary current of Phallusia [Ascidiacea] and the squirting of sea squirts. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 46 (1). pp. 125-127.

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Abstract

Filtration rates for Phallusia were computed from the rate of clearance of suspensions of colloidal graphite and of the flagellate Isochrysis. Rates varied from 825 rnl./h to 5100 rnl./h for animals between 8 and 128 g wet weight (40-336 ml./h/g wet weight; 88-570 ml./h/mg nitrogen). The greater part of this current is ciliary; less than 2% is accounted for by squirting. Squirting thus plays but a minor role in maintaining the feeding current. Its probable function is perhaps more comparable with the expulsion of pseudofaeces in filter-feeding molluscs.

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