Colonial sea squirt

Perophora japonica

Other invertebrates
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth2–46 m
Water temperature11–29 °C
Best monthsJune, July, and August
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Rebekah Bajkó, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Perophora japonica is a species of colonial sea squirt in the genus Perophora, native to the North Indo-Pacific. It has spread to several other parts of the world including the south coast of Britain, France, the Netherlands and the west coast of the United States.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Perophora japonica”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 32 records
February: 59 records
March: 47 records
April: 82 records
May: 87 records
June: 101 records
July: 130 records
August: 139 records
September: 75 records
October: 68 records
November: 72 records
December: 40 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 2–46 m · Deepest record: 554.6 m

0–10 m: 105 records
10–20 m: 18 records
20–30 m: 17 records
30–40 m: 2 records
40–50 m: 32 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: 0 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 11–29 °C

10–12 °C: 103 records
12–14 °C: 59 records
14–16 °C: 0 records
16–18 °C: 4 records
18–20 °C: 5 records
20–22 °C: 489 records
22–24 °C: 0 records
24–26 °C: 73 records
26–28 °C: 115 records
28–30 °C: 10 records

Photos

(c) Rebekah Bajkó, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Bernard Picton, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jack Alcorn, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Steven Farquhar, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Libby Keatley, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Libby Keatley, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Colonial sea squirt, colonial sea squirt, Tunicate

Names in 4 more languages

Spanish: Tunicado del Indopacífico
French: Pérophore japonaise
Japanese: マメボヤ
Korean: 주머니멍게

Similar species

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.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
912 open-data records from 1990 to 2024.
Species data updated November 5, 2026.

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