Doliolidae is a family of tunicates in the order Doliolida. Members of the family are pelagic and often found far away from coastlines.Doliolidae World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
Members of the family are transparent, gelatinous, barrel-shaped or cylindrical marine organisms. They are mostly small and inconspicuous. They have cilia which move water through the mucus nets which they use to trap the phytoplankton on which they feed. This is in contrast to their close relations, the salps, which use contractions of transverse muscles in the body wall for this purpose. Doliolids also have circular muscles, the sudden contraction of which cause them to move rapidly in a characteristic jerky manner.Pelagic Tunicates JelliesZone. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
They have a complex life cycle, as do other doliolids, with forms that alternate between generations that undergo sexual and asexual reproduction.
Genera The World Register of Marine Species lists the following genera and species:
Dolioletta Borgert, 1894 Dolioletta chuni (Neumann, 1906) Dolioletta gegenbauri (Uljanin, 1884) Dolioletta mirabilis Korotneff, 1891 Dolioletta tritonis Herdman, 1888 Dolioletta valdiviae (Neumann, 1906) Doliolina Garstang, 1933 Dolioloides Garstang, 1933 Doliolum Quoy & Gaimard, 1834 Doliolum denticulatum Quoy & Gaimard, 1834 Doliolum intermedium Neumann, 1906 Doliolum nationalis Borgert, 1894
References