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| NAS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species |
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Common Name: common sea grape
Taxonomy: available through 
Identification: Gray to greenish. Tunic usually muddy. Siphons pominents but not far apart (Meinkoth 1981). Gosner (1978:272).
Size: 34 mm (Gosner 1978).
Native Range:
Maine to Texas but absent from Florida (Meinkoth 1981).
Nonindigenous Occurrences: First discovered in San Francisco Bay, California, in the 1960s (Carlton 1979; Lambert and Lambert 1995; Ruiz et al 2000). Next it was found in Long Beach-Newport Harbors in 1984; then in Marina del Rey and Ventura Bays in the 1990s (Lambert and Lambert 1995); and San Francisco Bay (Ruiz et al. 2000). This species is also established in Coos Bay, Oregon and Puget Sound, Washington (Ruiz et al. 2000; Cohen 2004).
Ecology: Found on rocks, pilings, boat hulls, and various sea weeds in bays and estuaries. It is tolerant of a range of salinity, temperature, and pollution (Meinkoth 1981).
Means of Introduction: Ballast water or ship fouling.
Status: Established in California, Oregon and Washington.
Impact of Introduction: Unknown.
Remarks: This is the common sea squirt south of Cape Cod. It is tolerant of polluted water and can even survive in New York Harbor, and is one of the few ascidians that lives in brackish water (Gosner 1978).
References
Gosner, K.L. 1978. A Field Guide to the Atlantic Seashore. The Peterson Field Guide Series. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA. 329 pp.
Lambert, G., and C.C. Lambert. 1995. Nonindigenous sea squirts in California Harbors. Aquatic Nuisance Species Digest 1(2):17,20.
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.
Other Resources: Photo - Tunicates of the West Coast of North America
Author: Pam Fuller
Revision Date: 7/22/2008 Citation for this information:
Pam Fuller. 2008. Molgula manhattensis. USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL.
<http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.asp?speciesID=1288> Revision Date: 7/22/2008
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