MIMIC
Marine Invader Monitoring and Information Collaborative
September 17, 2014

We pulled the rope (27' is always under water) which has been in the water since June 16th and you can still see the sheat tunicates forming along with some other organisms. There are more Sea Squirts and they are larger than last month. The bottom was a little too murky to see much on the bottom. There seems to be a lot more Colonial Tunicates under the floats than last time. Lots of Sheath and Star Tunicates also visible and filling all the area. Click here for Report.

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Observers: Bev Johnson, Zackary, Raven and Wyatt
Time: 11:50 to 12:30 PM
Water Temperature: 16º C
Weather: Partly Cloudy about 69º
Time of Low Tide: 12:42 PM 1.52'


37 feet of rope under water and it appears that the invasives are only attaching to the part that is hanging in the water and not the part that is in the mud.








under dock - Didemnum vexillum (colonial tunicate)
under dock - Didemnum vexillum
Botrylloides violaceus (Sheath Tunicate)
Botryllus schlosseri (Star Tunicate)
under dock - Didemnum vexillum
Botrylloides violaceus
Botryllus schlosseri






under dock - Didemnum vexillum
You can also see small anemone (Metridium senile) at the edge of the tunicate




amphipod called Chorophium sp. Pretty common and big time food source for foraging birds like plovers, sand pipers, willets, etc.
Botryllus schlosseri (Star Tunicate)






Botrylloides violaceus (Sheath Tunicate)




Ascidiella spersa (Sea Squirt)


Ascidiella spersa (Sea Squirt)


Shrimp (probably non-invasive?)