Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
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Family Didemnidae

Atriolum robustum

Kott, 1983

Sea Squirt

Likely Reef Tank Suitable

Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable

Range: Indo-West Pacific Ocean

Natural Environment: Inhabits hard and soft substrates in shallow water subject to tidal changes.

Aquarium Suitability: Not purposely collected for the home aquarium trade.

Forms clusters and rarely ever seen in the home aquarium trade/available for purchase.

Yet may, yet extremely rarely, inadvertently occur on coral specimens/live rock from areas of their collection.

Requires special attention to feeding requirements. For those that want to maintain them, they require numerous feedings per day of live and/or preserved commercial phytoplankton/zooplankton products or that of animal and plant powders that produce suspended products in the bulk water and/or bacteria laden waters.

Proper placement is also quite important. Generally, most prefer low light and do better with indirect light and gentle water movement.

Besides being difficult to maintain, they have a very short life span, usually about one year and sometimes far less. Only those willing to provide for their demanding level of care should attempt keeping them in closed systems. Actually, 99.9% should be left in the wild.

Taxonomy:

    Kingdom: Animalia

    Phylum: Chordata

    Class: Ascidiacea

    Order: Aplousobranchia

    Family: Didemnidae

    Genus: Atriolum

FYI: Shown here for identification only.

 Atriolum robustum (Sea Squirt)
Photo © Wikimedia
 Atriolum robustum (Sea Squirt)
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