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Microcosmus exasperatus
Microscosmus exasperatus is a species of tunicate in the family, Pyuridae, and was first described in 1878 by Camill Heller.[1][2] It is found in the warm, temperate and tropical seas[3] of Australia, where it is found on the coastal shelves of New South Wales, the Northern Territory, Queensland, and Western Australia.[1] It is also found in seas off the West Indies, east Africa and in the Red Sea.[1] It has been found on many substrates including "pilings, stones, mangrove roots, and coral reefs, buoys, floats, and vessel hulls".[3] It is an invasive species, and is now found in the central and eastern Mediterranean, and Pacific oceanic islands.[3] (The Smithsonian considers its native range to be the eastern and western tropical Atlantic, and the Indo-West Pacific.)[3] This species is often confused with Microcosmus squamiger but has longer spines.[3] It feeds on phytoplankton.[3] References
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