The Ascidians of the Japan Sea. I

Abstract

The ascidian fauna in the Japan Sea was studied by examination of new material mainly from littoral areas and the type or other available specimens and by a literature survey of previous records. A total of 163 species, including infraspecific taxa, belonging to 50 genera of 14 families were recorded from this sea. Included are descriptions of five new species, proposal of a new replacement name and many taxonomic amendments. The fauna thus understood has been analyzed zoogeographically mainly in terms of biogeographic elements. Consideration of the results supports in many respects the previous knowledge about the biotic peculiarities of the sea, but also gives some new findings.