A mature tunicate: This animal is about 12 cm long. It is on a black background and is illuminated from the side to reveal its internal structure; normally the body would be white and the organs would be not be clearly seen. The oral siphon is at the extreme upper right corner while the exit siphon is about 1/3rd down the body pointing upward. The brachial basket, which supports the feeding net is the banded cylinder that begins just up from the exit siphon. The yellow brown loop at the extreme left is the intestine and stomach. Water is pumped by the thrashing of millions of small cilia on the surface of the brachial basket and small organisms become trapped on the feeding net which is pulled down into the stomach. A tadpole: It hatched from an egg that was ejected from a mature animal and fertilized in the water by sperm ejected from another Ciona. It will swim for a few days and then attach by its head to a solid surface and metamorphize into a mature animal.
Just after metaphorsis: Within 20-40 hours the attached tadpole will look like this, and be able to pump water through its feeding net to collect food. The attachment to the surface is the white blurr at the far right, the oral siphon is pointed down from the body, while the yellow bulge at the top end of the body contains the stomach and intestine.
