Ascidians are marine filter‐feeder chordates. Botrylloides ascidians possess diverse biological properties such as whole‐body regeneration (WBR), hibernation/aestivation, blastogenesis, metamorphosis, and natural chimerism. However, the absence of distinctive morphological features often makes identification difficult. Botrylloides diegensis is an ascidian that has been misidentified in previous studies and is recorded in GenB...

A colonial ascidian was first reported by marine farmers in Houhora Harbour, Northland, New Zealand in early 2005 and subsequently found on oyster racks in Parengarenga Harbour and the Bay of Islands. The Northland ascidian was identified with a combination of morphological characters and DNA cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) sequence data, as Eudistoma elongatum , a species native to Australia, where it is found from northern New...

A submarine lantern system was trailed in the aquaculture of explants of the endemic New Zealand bath‐sponge Spongia ( Heterofibria ) manipulatus (Demospongiae: Dictyoceratida: Spongiidae) at four New Zealand sites, two in the Marlborough Sounds and two off Coromandel Peninsula. The main objectives were to compare growth rates of explants at different sites, compare these with those of control sponges, and to assess the utilit...