{{Short description|Genus of tunicates}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Pyrosoma atlanticum.JPG | image_caption = ''Pyrosoma atlanticum'' | taxon = Pyrosoma | authority = Péron, 1804 <ref name=WoRMS>{{cite taxon|WoRMS|id=137224 |title=''Pyrosoma'' Péron, 1804 |access-date=30 September 2024}}</ref> | synonyms = {{Genus list | Dipleurosoma | Brooks, 1906}} | synonyms_ref = <ref name=WoRMS/> }}
'''''Pyrosoma''''' is a genus of pyrosomes, marine colonial tunicates in the class Thaliacea.<ref name=WoRMS/><ref>{{cite journal|last=Péron|first=F.|year=1804|title=Mémoire sur le nouveau genre Pyrosoma|journal=Annales du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle|volume=4|issue=12|pages=437-446}}</ref> It contains four pelagic species found in temperate waters worldwide. Pyrosomes are filter feeders that uniquely use a type of continuous jet propulsion, generated by individual zooids, to slowly move forward while grazing; the species ''P. atlanticum'' has the highest known food clearance rate among zooplankton grazers. Colonies can reach lengths of up to {{cvt|20|m}}.<ref>{{Cite journal | last=Henschke| first=Natasha | last2=Pakhomov | first2=Evgeny A. | last3=Kwong | first3=Lian E. | last4=Everett | first4=Jason D. | last5=Laiolo | first5=Leonardo | last6=Coghlan | first6=Amy R. | last7=Suthers | first7=Iain M. | date=May 2019 | title=Large vertical migrations of ''Pyrosoma atlanticum'' play an important role in active carbon transport | url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2018JG004918 | journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences | language=en | volume=124 | issue=5 | pages=1056–1070 | doi=10.1029/2018JG004918 | doi-access=free| hdl=10453/139295 | hdl-access=free }}</ref> *Pyrosoma atlanticum* has special light organs that contain glowing bacteria (*Photobacterium* sp.), and these bacteria make the colony glow blue-green in the ocean.<ref>Berger, A., Blackwelder, P., Frank, T., Sutton, T., Pruzinsky, N., Slayden, N., & Lopez, J. V. (2021). "Bioluminescent Symbionts of Pyrosoma atlanticum". *Frontiers in Marine Science, 8*, 606818. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.606818</ref>
== Species ==
The genus contains four recognized species:<ref name=WoRMS/> {{Linked species list | Pyrosoma aherniosum | Seeliger, 1895 | Pyrosoma atlanticum | Péron, 1804 | Pyrosoma godeauxi | van Soest, 1981 | Pyrosoma ovatum | Neumann, 1909 }}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Tunicata|T.}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q1193112}}
Category:Pyrosomatidae Category:Tunicate genera Category:Taxa described in 1804 Category:Taxa named by François Péron
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