Orange Colonial Sea Squirt

Metandrocarpa taylori

Other invertebrates
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth16–32 m
Water temperature7–26 °C
Best monthsJuly, August, and October
How commonOccasional

All species

Photo credit: no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 83 records
February: 90 records
March: 80 records
April: 76 records
May: 106 records
June: 123 records
July: 152 records
August: 128 records
September: 96 records
October: 153 records
November: 87 records
December: 62 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 16–32 m · Deepest record: 100 m

0–10 m: 21 records
10–20 m: 190 records
20–30 m: 366 records
30–40 m: 45 records
40–50 m: 43 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 7–26 °C

6–8 °C: 7 records
8–10 °C: 185 records
10–12 °C: 410 records
12–14 °C: 31 records
14–16 °C: 0 records
16–18 °C: 6 records
18–20 °C: 0 records
20–22 °C: 69 records
22–24 °C: 0 records
24–26 °C: 9 records

Photos

no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Cricket Raspet, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Erin McKittrick, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Erin McKittrick, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Rachel Lee Harper, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Trevor Van Loon, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Rebecca Johnson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Orange Colonial Sea Squirt, Taylor's Social Tunicate

Names in 1 more languages

Spanish: Tunicado de Taylor

Similar species

Chain tunicate
Botrylloides violaceus
Golden star tunicate
Botryllus schlosseri
Baked bean ascidian
Dendrodoa grossularia
botrylloid
Botrylloides leachii
Black synascidia
Botrylloides niger
Golden Sea Squirt
Polycarpa aurata

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
891 open-data records from 1895 to 2025.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.

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