Nickname: "Orange Rubber"

Scientific name -- possible: Aplidium solidum
— Colonial tunicate Habitat: Rocks. Wave-exposed areas. Mid-low intertidal. Common. Locations observed: Outside beach (Summer 2016), White rock beach (Summer 2016). Description: Stiff, rubbery texture – keeps its shape when removed from rock. No stalk. Often hanging from a rock or nestled between barnacles. Zooids irregularly arranged. Tunic is more opaque than in "patches". Zooids are solid orange along their length with a whitish "skin" along the length of the tube, creating a white ring around the orange zooid tip at the surface of the colony. Notes: Some from Hesketh and Herring Islands appear to be this species, I included them in my group. This is most similar to "Patches" in photos, and the most obvious differences in the field are color and texture, where this is much more solid, and "patches" falls apart in your hand and feels more gooey. Species possibilities from online key: Aplidium solidum (redder than our photos, right texture) Aplidium californicum (paler than our photos, softer texture, range is correct). The main differences between the two on the key are that A. solidum is redder, more solid, and the zooids are arranged more irregularly. All of that seems to fit here, so I'm guessing A. solidum. I have given you a few samples of this one from Outside Beach (my samples 1-3)

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By Ground Truth Trekking

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