Dolioletta

Dolioletta is a genus of tunicates in the family Doliolidae.

Dolioletta
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Tunicata
Class:	Thaliacea
Order:	Doliolida
Family:	Doliolidae
Genus:	Dolioletta Borgert, 1894 [1]
Species
See text

Characteristics

Members of the genus Dolioletta are transparent, gelatinous barrel-shaped animals, usually less than one centimetre long. They move in jerks by contracting the circular bands of muscle in their body wall sharply.^[2]

Biology

They have the complex life cycle typical of the doliolids, with alternating sexual and asexual phases. They use a net of mucus strands to efficiently trap phytoplankton floating past. They both grow fast and multiply rapidly and a single animal is capable of forming thousands of new individuals in a few days. They sometimes form dense swarms with up to 500 individuals per square metre.^[2]

Species

The World Register of Marine Species lists the following species:^[1]

• Dolioletta chuni (Neumann, 1906)
• Dolioletta gegenbauri (Uljanin, 1884)
• Dolioletta mirabilis Korotneff, 1891
• Dolioletta tritonis Herdman, 1888
• Dolioletta valdiviae (Neumann, 1906)