#4860 · 🪼 jellyfish, starfish, worms & co
Sea Vase
🇳🇱 Doorschijnende zakpijp ·Ciona intestinalis
📍 Oosterschelde, Zeeuwse meren, 158_13_400, NL
📍 Oosterschelde, Zeeuwse meren, 158_13_400, NL
📍 Grevelingen, Ouddorp, Zuid-Holland, NL
📍 Den Osse, 4318 TN Brouwershaven, Nederland
📍 Schouwen-Duiveland, Pays-Bas
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Tara McEvoy-Wilding · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 2. © Asbjørn Hansen · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- 3. © Bernard Picton · CC BY 4.0
- 4. © grivesolitaire · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © Poul Erik Rasmussen · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. Oosterschelde, Zeeuwse meren, 158_13_400, NL:© Stefan · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 7. Oosterschelde, Zeeuwse meren, 158_13_400, NL:© Stefan · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. Grevelingen, Ouddorp, Zuid-Holland, NL:© no rights reserved · CC0
- 9. Den Osse, 4318 TN Brouwershaven, Nederland:© Carla van Westing · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 10. Schouwen-Duiveland, Pays-Bas:© Frédéric ANDRE · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
Ciona intestinalis (sometimes known by the common name of vase tunicate ) is an ascidian (sea squirt), a tunicate with very soft tunic. Its Latin name means, literally, "pillar of intestines", referring to the fact that its body is a soft, translucent column-like structure, resembling a mass of intestines sprouting from a rock. It is a globally distributed cosmopolitan species. Since Linnaeus described the species, Ciona intestinalis has been used as a model invertebrate chordate in developmental...
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 121 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #14 most seen of the jellyfish, starfish, worms & co in NL.
- 1,928 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named in 1767 (259 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Sea Vase
- Nederlands
- Doorschijnende zakpijp
- scientific name
- Ciona intestinalis
- class
- Ascidiacea
- order
- Phlebobranchia
- family
- Cionidae
- sightings in NL
- 121
- sightings in Europe
- 595
- sightings worldwide
- 1,928
- GBIF records in NL
- 716
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1767
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 48272, Wikidata Q2567701, GBIF 2329622, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.