CreatureData

Sea vase

Ciona intestinalis (Linnaeus, 1767)

Status not recordedother invertebrates

The sea vase (Ciona intestinalis) is a species in the family Cionidae, order Phlebobranchia.

No freely licensed photo yet

Quick facts about the sea vase

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the sea vase live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the sea vase as introduced in 13 countries, and flagged as invasive in 3 of them.

  1. Canadainvasive
  2. Chileinvasive
  3. Franceinvasive
  4. Angola
  5. Argentina
  6. China
  7. Iceland
  8. Mexico
  9. New Zealand
  10. Peru
  11. Portugal
  12. South Korea
  13. United States

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the sea vase endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the sea vase classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAscidiacea
  4. orderPhlebobranchia
  5. familyCionidae
  6. genusCiona
  7. SpeciesCiona intestinalis (Linnaeus, 1767)

Synonyms Ascidia canina, Ascidia corrugata, Ascidia diaphanea, Ascidia intestinalis, Ascidia membranosa, Ascidia ocellata, Ascidia pulchella, Ascidia tenella, Ascidia virens, Ascidia virescens, Ascidia viridiscens, Ciona canina, Ciona diaphanea, Ciona intestinalis tenella, Ciona ocellata, Ciona pulchella, Ciona sociabilis, Ciona tenella, Phallusia intestinalis, Tethyum sociabile

Other names and names in other languages (23)
  • Transparent ascidianEnglish
  • Vase tunicateEnglish
  • Yellow sea squirtEnglish
  • sumka trubičkovitáCzech
  • Almindelig søpungDanish
  • gelbe SeescheideGerman
  • ΛευκόφουσκαGreek
  • AscidiaSpanish
  • cioneFrench
  • Ascidia lungaItalian
  • カタユウレイボヤJapanese
  • grønnsekkdyrNorwegian Bokmål
  • doorschijnende zakpijpDutch
  • grønsekkdyrNorwegian Nynorsk
  • PrzejrzystkaPolish
  • tarmsjöpungSwedish
  • Schlauch-AscidieGerman
  • Schlauch-SeescheideGerman
  • SchlauchseescheideGerman
  • ascidie jauneFrench
  • Ascidie vitreuseFrench
  • Cione intestinaleFrench
  • tarmsekkdyrNorwegian Bokmål

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the sea vase

Other species in the same genus Ciona.

CompareSea vase vs Pacific transparent sea squirtSea vase vs Yellow sea squirtSea vase vs Ciona antarcticaSea vase vs Ciona fascicularis

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Is the sea vase an invasive species?

In some places. The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species flags the sea vase as invasive in 3 countries: Canada, Chile and France. It lists it as introduced in 13 in all.

What kind of animal is the sea vase?

The sea vase (Ciona intestinalis) belongs to the family Cionidae in the order Phlebobranchia.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

Embed a card for this animal on your own site

Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.

Preview the card

APA

CreatureData. (2026). Sea vase (Ciona intestinalis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/sea-vase

MLA

“Sea vase (Ciona intestinalis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/sea-vase.

BibTeX
@misc{sea_vase_2026,
  title = {Sea vase (Ciona intestinalis)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/sea-vase},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}