#4878 · 🪼 jellyfish, starfish, worms & co
European ascidian
🇳🇱 Ruwe zakpijp ·Ascidiella aspersa
8 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
Ascidiella aspersa is a species of solitary sea squirts native to the northeastern Atlantic, from the Mediterranean Sea to Norway. 1 in) in length. Their branchial (or oral) siphons are conical and positioned at the top of the body. They possess six to eight lobes. The atrial siphons are located at the upper third of the side of the body and possess six lobes. The body...
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 43 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #32 most seen of the jellyfish, starfish, worms & co in NL.
- 893 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by Otto Friedrich Müller in 1776 (250 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- European ascidian
- Nederlands
- Ruwe zakpijp
- scientific name
- Ascidiella aspersa
- class
- Ascidiacea
- order
- Phlebobranchia
- family
- Ascidiidae
- sightings in NL
- 43
- sightings in Europe
- 219
- sightings worldwide
- 893
- GBIF records in NL
- 686
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1776 by Otto Friedrich Müller
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 199327, Wikidata Q11841378, GBIF 5200467, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.