Ciona intestinalis

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 literally means "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: this species has been introduced to various parts of the world and is considered as an invasive species.

Since Linnaeus described the species, Ciona intestinalis has been used as a model species of an invertebratechordate in developmental biology and genomics.