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| NAS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species |
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Common Name: Asian tunicate
Synonyms and Other Names: club tunicate, sea squirt.
Taxonomy: available through 
Identification: Solitary; club-shaped; yellowish-gray to reddish-brown. Thick tunic, leathery with conspicuous bumps. Siphons near top; both siphons pointed upward (Meinkoth 1981).
Size: 15 cm high, 51 mm wide (Meinkoth 1981).
Native Range:
Asia (Meinkoth 1981).
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 Alaska |
Hawaii |
Caribbean |
Interactive maps: Continental US, Alaska, Hawaii, Caribbean
Nonindigenous Occurrences:
This species was probably introduced into Newport Harbor, California, in the 1920s but it was not reported until 1933 when it became abundant (Lambert and Lambert 1995). It is also established in San Francisco Bay (Ruiz et al. 2000). This species is established in Coos Bay, Oregon and Puget Sound, Washington (Ruiz et al. 2000; Cohen 2004).
First observed in Long Island, New York, in 1973; by 1988 its range expanded northward to Maine, and southward to Connecticut (Berman et al. 1992). First found at Beverly Massachusetts in 1970 (Berman et al. 1992). First found in New Hampshire in Portsmouth Harbor in 1985.
Means of Introduction:
Ballast water release and/or ship fouling (Meinkoth 1981). It is believed to have come from Japan via Europe sometime in the late 1960s (Berman et al. 1992). Carried on ship hulls into harbors in California, Europe, and Australia at the beginning of the century (Meinkoth 1981).
Status:
Established. One of the two dominant tunicates in Newport Harbor by 1949. This species still dominates (Lambert and Lambert 1995). This species was rare in Beverly, Massachusetts, in the spring of 1970. By the late 1970s it had become common, and it is now abundant (Berman et al. 1992). First found in New Hampshire in Portsmouth Harbor in 1985. As of Novermber 1990, it had not been found at Newcastle, New Hampshire (Berman et al. 1992). Therefore, it is not increasing as rapidly as the population in Massachusetts (Berman et al. 1992).
Impact of Introduction: A dominant competitor. Has apparently replace the native solitary tunicates Pyura haustor and Ascidia ceratodes in California (Lambert and Lambert 1995). Now occurs in monoculture stands on floating and fixed sublittoral substrates in many parts of southern New England, occurring by the tens of thousands in regions previously occupied by the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis (Carlton 1989). Berman et al. (1992) predict that if it becomes abundant in the northern part of its range, S. clava will competitively exclude Mytilis edulis and Metridium senile.
Remarks:
Used as seafood in Korea (Meinkoth 1981).
References
Berman, J., L. Harris, W. Lambert, M. Buttrick, M. Dufresne. Recent invasions of the Gulf of Maine: three contrasting ecological histories. Conservation Biology 6(3):435-441.
Carlton, J.T. 1989. Man's role in changing tohe face of the ocean: biological invasions and implications for conservation of near-shore environments. Conservation Biology 3(3):265-273.
Lambert, G., and C.C. Lambert. 1995. Nonindigenous sea squirts in California Harbors. Aquatic Nuisance Species Digest 1(2):17,20.
Meinkoth, N.A. 1981. The Audubon Society Field Gude to North American Seashore Creatures. Alfred A. Knopf., New York, NY. 813 pp.
Ruiz, G. M., P. W. Fofonoff, J. T. Carlton, M. J. Wonham, and A. H. Hines. 2000. Invasion of coastal marine communities in North America: Apparent patterns, processes, and biases. Annual Review of Ecological Systematics. 31: 481-531.
Author: Pam Fuller
Revision Date: 7/22/2008 Citation for this information:
Pam Fuller. 2010. Styela clava. USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL.
<http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.asp?speciesID=1292> Revision Date: 7/22/2008
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