Taken primarily from Kozloff, 1987, 1996 p. 467 (Copyright 1987, 1996, University of Washington Press. Used in this web page by permission of University of Washington Press)
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| Lower taxonomic level | Main Page | Alphabetic Index | Systematic Index | Glossary |
| 1a | Solitary Ascidians (not reproducing by budding) or social ascidians (reproducing by budding and connected, at least initially, by stolons or sheets of tissue and tunic material), but not embedded in a common tunic | 2 |
| 1b | Compound ascidians, the several to many zooids of the colony embedded in a common tunic, which is usually gelatinous in texture | 33 |
| 2a | Solitary ascidians (if the animals are in clusters, it is because they have settled on one another, not because they have reproduced by budding individuals); usually more than 1 cm in diameter | 3 |
| 2b | Social ascidians (members of an aggregation connected, at least initially, by stolons or sheets of tissue and tunic material); members usually less than 1 cm in diameter | 28 |
| 3a | Tunic transparent or translucent (in Molgula Pacifica, however, considerable foreign material is incorpated into the translucent tunic) | 4 |
| 3b | Tunic opaque (in Bathypera, the opacity is due to crowded calcareous concretions just beneath the surface of the tunic) | 13 |
| 4a | Both the oral and atrial apertures situated on a flattened disk consisting of several distinct plates (photo) | 5 |
| 4b | Oral and atrial apertures not situated on a flattened disk that consits of several distinct plates | 6 |
| 5a | Plates of disk usually showing concentric growth lines; muscle strands connecting the 2 central plates of the disk not visible through the tunic; no intermediary plates between the central and marginal plates; diameter of disk often exceeding 1.5 cm; intertidal, subtidal, and on floats | Chelyosoma productum |
| 5b | Plates of disk without concentric growth lines; muscle strands connecting the two central plates of the disk visible through the tunic in preserved specimens; 1-3 intermediary plates between the central and marginal plates; diameter of disk rarely exceeding 1.5 cm; subtidal | Chelyosoma columbianum |
| 6a | Not permanently attached to a firm substratum; tunic covered with short, hairlike projections | Molgula pugetiensis |
| 6b | Attached to a firm substratum; tunic smooth or with papillae, but without hairlike projections | 7 |
| 7a | Body low, somewhat flattened | 8 |
| 7b | Body taller than wide | 9 |
| 8a | ||
| 8b | ||
| 9a | Tunic with considerable foreign material, even pieces of algae, incorporated into it; atrial siphon about twice as long as the oral siphon; both siphons orange-red or pinkish red; height up to about 2 cm (open coast, intertidal and subtidal) | Molgula pacifica |
| 9b | Tunic generally free of foreign material; oral and atrial siphons about the same length; siphons not some shade of red; height of mature specimens usually more than 2 cm | 10 |
| 10a | Tunic with scattered large papillae | 11 |
| 10b | Tunic smooth or irregulary
wrinkled |
Ascidia paratropa |
| 11a | Body much taller than wide; tunic transparent, but tinted yellow-green; longitudinal muscle bands distinctly visible beneath the tunic; oral and atrial apertures borne on short siphons | Ciona instestinalis |
| 11b | Body not much taller than wide; tunic transparent, but tinted yellow-green; longitudinal muscle bands not obvious beneath the tunic; oral and atrial apertures not borne on short siphons | 12 |
| 12a | Rectum less than half the height of the body; a portion of the atrium expanded into a pocket in which embryos are brooded | Corella inflata |
| 12b | Rectum more than three-fourths the height of the body; atrium not expanded into a pocket for brooding embryos (this species does not brood) | Corella willmeriana |
| 13a | Surface of tunic underlain by stratum of conspicuous, closely spaced calcareous spicules (these with a long central spine and several lateral spines) (body usually not as tall as wide; diameter up to about 4 cm, but generally much smaller; color usually grayish white, sometimes pinkish; subtidal) | Bathypera feminalba |
| 13b | Surface of tunic not underlain by a stratum of conspicuous calcareous concretions | 14 |
| 14a | Tunic covered with spinelike projections (these are usually branched) | 15 |
| 14b | Tunic smooth or wrinkled, but without spinelike projections | 17 |
| 15a | Body attached to the substratum by a distinct stalk; spinelike projections generally brahched, but the branches are not arranged in circles (low intertidal and subtidal, common on floats in some parts of our region) | Boltenia villosa |
| 15b | Body not attached to the substratum by a distinct stalk; branches of spinelike projections arranged in one or more circles | 16 |
| 16a | Spinelike projections almost completely obscuring the rest of the tunic, each projection encircled by several rings of recurved, thornlike secondary spinelets; height up to about 10 cm | Halocynthia igaboja |
| 16b | Spinelike projections not obscuring the rest of the tunic, each projection with a single irregular circle of several (usually 4-8) secondary spinelets; height not often exceeding 4 cm | Boltenia echinata |
| 17a | Both the oral and atrial apertures situated on a flattened disk that consists of several distinct plates | 18 |
| 17b | Oral and atrial apertures not situated on a flattened disk that consists of several distinct plates | 19 |
| 18a | Plates of disk usually showing concentric growth lines; muscle strands connecting the two central plates not visible through the tunic; no intermediary plates between the central and marginal plates; diameter of disk often exceeding 1.5 cm; low intertidal and subtidal, common on floats | Chelysoma productum |
| 18b | Plates of disk without concentric growth lines; muscle strands connecting the two central plates visible through the tunic in preserved specimens; 1-3 intermediary plates between the central and marginal plates; diameter of disk rarely exceeding 1.5 cm; subtidal | Chelysoma columbianum |
| 19a | Body elongated, attached to the substratum by a rather small area of the tunic, and sometimes with a distinct stalk | 20 |
| 19b | Body not elongated, attached to the substratum by a rather large are of the tunic | 22 |
| 20a | With a slender, furrowed stalk that is about half the total height
of the body; restricted to the open coast |
Styela montereyensis |
| 20b | Without a slender, furrowed stalk; not restricted to the open coast | 21 |
| 21a | Body barrel-shaped; tunic peach-colored, smooth or with inconspicuous furrows and wrinkles; height up to about 6 cm | Halocynthia aurantium |
| 21b | Body elongate, cylindrical, shaped much like a short cucumber; tunic brown or brownish red, with conspicuous lengthwise wrinkles; height not often more than 4 cm | Styela gibbsi |
| 22a | Body broadened in such a way that the oral and atrial apertures are widely separated and on opposite sides of the body | Pyrua mirabilis |
| 22b | Body not broadened in such a way that the oral and atrial apertures are widely separated and on opposite sides of the body | 23 |
| 23a | Entire animal bright pinkish red or orange-red; tunic smooth and shiny | Cnemidocarpa finmarkiensis |
| 23b | Animal not entirely red (if some bright red coloration is present, it is restricted to the areas surrounding the oral and atrial siphons); tunic usually wrinkled to at least some extent, not so smooth as to be shiny | 24 |
| 24a | Body taller than wide; siphons red (tunic tough, leathery, coarsely wrinkled, mostly orange-brown; height up to about 5 cm; common intertidal and subtidal species) | Pyura haustor |
| 24b | Body low, approximately hemispherical or appreciably flatter than hemispherical; siphons not red | 25 |
| 25a | ||
| 25b | ||
| 26a | ||
| 26b | ||
| 27a | ||
| 27b | ||
| 28a | Individuals not much, if any, taller than wide | 29 |
| 28b | Individuals much taller than wide | 31 |
| 29a | Individuals translucent, greenish, attached to the substratum by a small portion of the tunic | Perophora annectens |
| 29b | Individuals opaque and usually orange-red or brick-red (sometimes yellowish), attached to the substratum by a considerable portion of the tunic | 30 |
| 30a | Contiguous individuals joined by slender stolons or by thin sheets of tunic material; the connections often indistinct (on rocks, intertidal and subtidal) | Metandrocarpa taylori |
| 30b | Contiguous individuals joind to the extent that they nearly resemble zooids of a compound ascidian (usually on kelp, but also on rocks, intertidal and subtidal) | Metandrocarpa dura |
| 31a | Individuals widely separated, less than 1 cm tall when mature; pharynx yellow-orange | Pycnoclavella stanleyi |
| 31b | Individuals clustered, usually more than 1 cm tall when mature; pharynx, if pigmented, not yellow-orange (caution: the larvae, which may be brooded in the pharynx, are yellow) | 32 |
| 32a | Dorsal lamina and endostyle bright fluorescent pink; margins of oral and atrial apertures not lobed | Clavelina huntsmani |
| 32b | Dorsal lamina and endostyle not fluorescent pink; margin of oral aperture irregularly lobed, the atrial aperture with 2 lips, each divided into 3 small lobes | Clavelina sp. |
| 33a | Colonies forming thin encrusting sheets, thick encrusting slabs (often irregular and lobed), or low mounds attached for most of their diameter to the substratum (the colony may be very lumpy, but it does not consist of club-shaped, mushroomlike, leaflike, or globular masses that have distinct stalks | 34 |
| 33b | Colonies forming club-shaped, mushroomlike, leaflike, or globular masses, usually with distinct stalks (even when the masses are moundlike, they have narrow stalks) | 43 |
| 34a | Colony forming encrustations not more than 3 mm thick and not lumpy (in Diplosoma listerianum, however, the common atrial apertures are on prominent elevations) | 35 |
| 34b | Colony forming cakes, low mounds, or slabs (these often irregular, lobed, and lumpy) 5 mm to 1 cm or more in thickness | 37 |
| 35a | ||
| 35b | ||
| 36a | ||
| 36b | ||
| 37a | Tunic with large, densely packed bladder cells and with disk-shaped calcareous concretions (both visible at a magnification of 15x) (color whitish tan or pink) | Cystodytes lobatus |
| 37b | Tunic without bladder cells or disk-shaped calcareous concretions | 38 |
| 38a | Most or all zooids arranged in systems (the individual zooids of a system have their oral apertures at the surface, but their atrial apertures join a cavity that has a single opening) (photo) | 39 |
| 38b | Zooids not arranged in systems (the oral and atrial apertures of each zooid are at the surface) | 41 |
| 39a | Tunic tough, leathery, encrusted with sand and with sand embedded in it; zooids with 2 body regions; pharynx of zooids with 3 rows of stigmata | Archidistoma psammion |
| 39b | Tunic gelatinous or fleshy, sometimes encrusted with sand but not with sand embedded in it; zooids with 3 body regions; pharynx of zooids with at least 8 rows of stigmata | 40 |
| 40a | Colonies forming smooth or irregular sheets 1-3 cm thick; zooids tan, yellowish, or orange-brown; pharynx with 7-15 (usually 8-12) rows of stigmata | Aplidium californicum |
| 40b | Colonies forming flat-topped slabs up to 5 cm thick, often massive and sometimes encrusted with sand; zooids generally red or orange-brown; pharynx with 12-16 (usually 13-15) rows of stigmata | Aplidium solidum |
| 41a | ||
| 41b | ||
| 42a | ||
| 42b | ||
| 43a | Pharynx with 4 rows of stigmata; colonies not sand-encrusted | 44 |
| 43b | Pharynx with 5 or more stigmata; colonies often sand-encrusted | 45 |
| 44a | Colony consisting of club-shaped or mushroomlike masses, sometimes broad mounds (but these have narrow stalks); color ranging from pale orange to dark purplish red; found in protected situations, especially on floats and pilings, as well as on the open coast | Distaplia occidentalis |
| 44b | Colony consisting of a cluster of leaflike or paddlelike lobes; color ranging from cream to light orange-brown; restricted to the open coast | Distaplia smithi |
| 45a | ||
| 45b | ||
| 46a | ||
| 46b | ||
| 47a | ||
| 47b | ||
| 48a | ||
| 48b | ||
| 49a | ||
| 49b | ||
| 50a | ||
| 50b | ||
| 51a | ||
| 51b |
Aplidium californicum
Aplidium
solidum
Ascidia
paratropa
Boltenia
echinata
Boltenia
villosa
Chelyosoma
columbianum
Chelysoma
productum
Clavelina huntsmani
Cnemidocarpa
finmarkiensis
Corella
inflata
Distaplia
occidentalis
Distaplia smithi
Halocynthia
igaboja
Metandrocarpa
taylori
Perophora
annectens
Pyura
haustor
Styela gibbsi
Styela
motereyensis