salp

plural salps

1. Any of the free-swimming tunicates of the order Salpida and its single family Salpidae.

   Lampetia has a rather undifferentiated larval stage (called Gastrodes) that parasitizes salps (Mortensen 1912; Komai 1922).

   2012, Claus Nielsen, Animal Evolution: Interrelationships of the Living Phyla, Oxford University Press, page 55

   2 more examples

   Salps are capable of self-propulsion, but for the most part, these translucent, gelatinous-looking animals float in mid-water going wherever the prevailing currents take them.[…]At times a number of buds are attached to one another in linked chains commonly called salp chains.

   1996, Marty Snyderman, Clay Wiseman, Guide to Marine Life: Caribbean, Bahamas, Florida, page 132

   Observations of some species suggest that salps form spawning aggregations near the surface in the early morning, and that spawning is synchronized with chain release to maximize fertilization success.

   1997, L. P. Madin, “Sensory Ecology of Salps (Tunicata, Thaliacea): More Questions than Answers”, in Petra H. Lenz, Daniel K. Hartline, Jennifer E. Purcell, David L. Macmillan, editors, Zooplankton: Sensory Ecology and Physiology, Gordon and Breach Publishers, page 565

   Synonyms: salpa