Last trip, we found an interesting ascidian that caught the eye of a member of the field naturalist group. This trip, mum and I wanted to get more photos of the specimen. We knew that it would be unlikely to get a definitive answer without collecting a specimen. Still, we were fascinated and wanted to learn more.
Ironically, we couldn’t remember which ascidian was the one we were looking for. We focused on anything that looked like it was a Botryllus species. Most of the ones we focused on were botryllus schlosseri, however I accidentally stumbled upon this colony.
It was only viewable and the lowest tide of the day, when the tide level got below 50cm. At time point, these were mostly out of the water. It was the one main colony spread over a largish area. I do remember the exact location. I’ll be returning with a macro lens to get better photos. I’ll also be documenting if the colony grows or is found in other locations there. We didn’t check the rockpools close to where the geese sleep.
