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Pyrosoma atlanticum
A colony of Pyrosoma atlanticum is cylindrical and can grow up to 60cm long and 4-6cm wide. The constituent zooids form a rigid tube which may be pale pink, yellowish or bluish. One end of the tube is narrower and is closed while the other is open and has a strong diaphragm. The zooids are known to be bioluminescent.
P. atlanticum is a pelagic species of marine colonial tunicate found in temperate waters all over the world.
I spotted this floating at around 40 to 50 feet. It's cylindrical and translucent, with red or orange flecks all over its length. There also appear to be cillia or very short tentacles all over. It appears to be hollow, but the body surface is hard. It was about 6 inches long.
Spotted on Feb 11, 2012
Submitted on Feb 12, 2012
2 Comments
Thanks for the suggestion, chimetsetan! I'll look it up.
it looks like Euplectella... a poriferan of ocean. Simplest animal group. :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euplectella...