(Ellis and Solander, 1786)
Description
External appearance
Colonial, with zooids immersed. Colonies forming fleshy, rounded lobes, up to 100 mm in diameter. Common test semi-transparent, yellowish grey, with or without adhering sand. Numerous round and regular systems of zooids, each with a central common cloacal opening.
Characters
Zooids about 25 mm in length; body divided into thorax, abdomen and post-abdomen. Oral siphon 6-lobed; atrial siphon short with a broad languet. Branchial sac with eight to 20 rows of 30 or more straight stigmata. Gut abdominal; stomach with rounded papillae or markings. Gonads located below gut loop in post-abdomen (S. pulmonaria zooid).
Habitat
Attached to hard substrata; from shallow water to depths of about 600 meters.
Distribution
Arctic-Boreal distribution.