Among the sea creatures, there are small creatures shaped like beer barrels. This is Dolioium .This creature has a unique barrel shape with a body length of 3 to 6 mm, is widely distributed in warm waters of the world’s oceans, and can be easily collected with a plankton net. Dolioium are translucent and look like jellyfish, but they are a member of the salpa family, and like salpas, they spend their entire lives floating in the ocean as plankton.
jellyfishhttps://www.mitell-a.com/1083/
Salpa https://www.mitell-a.com/159/
![](https://www.mitell-a.com/wp-content/uploads/salp4A.jpg)
海の生き物の中にはビールの樽のような形をした小さな生き物がいます。ウミタルです。この生き物は体長3~6mmの独特の樽形で、世界の大洋の温水域に広く分布しプランクトンネットで簡単に採取できます。ウミタルは半透明でクラゲのように見えますがサルパの仲間で、サルパと同様に一生海を漂いながらプランクトンとして過ごします
Dolioium has a distinctive body structure, with eight ring muscles surrounding the body inside the body wall. This creature sucks in seawater through its inlet (mouth), filters out phytoplankton with its gills, and then releases the seawater through its outlet at the back of its body. Dolioium can advance surprisingly quickly by repeating this filter feeding.
ウミタルは体の構造が特徴的であり、体壁の内側に8個の環状筋がたが状に体の周囲を取り巻いています。この生き物は入水孔(口)から海水を吸い込んで、植物プランクトンを鰓でろ過して体の後にある出水孔から海水を出します。ウミタルはこの濾過摂食を繰り返しで意外と早く前進することができます。
![](https://www.mitell-a.com/wp-content/uploads/umitaru1Z.jpg)
Dolioium has a complex life history and is hermaphrodite, alternating between asexual and sexual generations like salpas. This creature also emits light from the luminescent organs in its gills, and the purpose of emitting light is thought to be to protect itself from predators and to communicate with friends. There are many strange-shaped creatures in the sea.
ウミタルの生活史は複雑でサルパのように無性世代と有性世代を交互に繰返し雌雄同体です。またこの生き物は鰓にある発光器官から発光し、発光の目的は、外敵から身を守るためや仲間とのコミュニケーションの為と考えられます。海の中は変わった形の生き物が多いですね。