Family SALPIDAE
Compiler and date details
P. Kott, Queensland Museum, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Introduction
The family Salpidae Lahille, 1888 (with subfamilies Cyclosalpinae and Salpinae) is the most diverse of the thaliacean families, and the only family in the order Salpida. Salps are transparent, with atrial and branchial apertures at opposite ends of a more or less streamlined body. An aggregate (blastozooid) sexual generation alternates with a solitary (oozooid) vegetative generation. There is no tailed larva.
Circular muscles surrounding the body are divided into oral, atrial and body muscles. The oral muscle closes the mouth, while the body muscles contract to force water out posteriorly through the atrial aperture. Gill slits are absent, the atrial and branchial cavities being almost continuous, interrupted only by a large ciliated gill bar, the cilia driving the mucous net to the oesophageal opening. A tight, compact 'nucleus' at the posterior end of the body of the aggregate form contains the gut loop and gonads. Embryos (usually one at a time) develop attached to the atrial lining in the aggregated blastozooids.
The subfamily Cyclosalpinae (Cyclosalpa Blainville, 1827 and Helicosalpa Todara, 1902) in which circular whorls of zooids are produced from the stolon of the solitary vegetative generation, has a particularly thin test and a straight gut stretched along the gill bar. In Salpinae the test is often thick and firm, forming keels, spines, etc., the aggregates of blastozooids are in double rows rather than whorls and the gut is coiled.
Eleven genera are recognised in the Salpinae, and all are represented in Australian waters. The most commonly occurring species is Thalia democratica (Forskål, 1775), which occurs in two swarms, spring and autumn, off the coast of New South Wales. Its biology is discussed by Heron (1972) who observed that the population growth of the salp reflected that of the phytoplankton blooms it exploits as its food. The phytoplankton blooms presumably are associated with the incursions of nutrient rich deeper waters onto the continental shelf at those times of the year.
Ihle (1935) reviewed the Salpidae. Van Soest (1974a, 1974b, 1975) has more recently revised many of the genera. Thompson (1945) discussed their occurrence in Australian waters.
General References
Blainville, H.M.D. de 1827. Salpa. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 26(3): 136-138
Forsskål, P. 1775. Salpa. pp. 112-117 in, Descriptions Animalium …; quae in itinere orientali observavit. Hauniae : Heineck & Faber. 164 pp. [publication date established from Melville, R.V. 1969. Salpa Forskål, 1775 (Tunicata): Validated under the Plenary Powers with designation of a type species for Thalia Blumenbach, 1798. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 26(3): 136–138]
Heron, A.C. 1972. Population ecology of a colonizing species: the pelagic tunicate Thalia democratica. I. Individual growth rate and generation time. Oecologia (Berlin) 10: 289-293
Lahille, F. 1888. Etude systématique des tuniciers. Comptes Rendus de l'Association Française pour l'Avancement des Sciences 1887(2): 667-677
Todara, F. 1883. Sopra una nuova forma di Salpa (S. dolicosoma). Atti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rendiconti 8: 41-43
Van Soest, R.W.M. 1974a. Taxonomy of the subfamily Cyclosalpinae Yount, 1954, with descriptions of two new species. Beaufortia 22(288): 17-55
Van Soest, R.W.M. 1974b. A revision of the genera Salpa Forskål, 1775, Pegea Savigny, 1816 and Ritteriella Metcalf, 1919 (Tunicata, Thaliacea). Beaufortia 22(293): 153-191
Van Soest, R.W.M. 1975. Observations on taxonomy and distribution of some salps (Tunicata, Thaliacea), with descriptions of three new species. Beaufortia 23: 105-130
History of changes
| Published | As part of group | Action Date | Action Type | Compiler(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12-Feb-2010 | (import) |