Occurrence of Ascidians: An initiative from the Gujarat coast, India

Ascidians belong to the subphylum Tunicata which represents a variety of organisms along the Indian coastal waters. These organisms are known to be a fouling community due to their rapid growth ability. Major finding of the recent research work is to provide an outline of tunicates with their diversity and distribution data along the rocky shores of Gujarat which may provide positive approach in a direction of tunicate research as these group became invasive on most of the substrates. This study reveals 13 species of ascidians along the rocky intertidal stretch with their distribution record.