Northwest Dive Club

One of my co-workers was catching these off his fishing boat out in the Straits. He asked me what they are. Durned if I know ... do you?





... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Bob: Google "salps". They are a free swimming tunicate. Someone who knows better than me may tell you I'm wrong, bit that is what they look like to me.
Curt

Perhaps pyrosomes?

http://www.dailyastorian.com/Local_News ... -the-ocean

Someone who knows better has shown up. I was unfamiliar with pyrosomes, so I googled them. They are another free swimming tunicate, closely related to salps. Because they luminesce, they are sometimes called "fire salps". In the novel, "The Highest Tide", a young kid keeps finding marine organisms that are unfamiliar to the older biologists. I understand how the old biologists feel.
-Curt

60south wrote:Perhaps pyrosomes?

http://www.dailyastorian.com/Local_News ... -the-ocean

That's it!

Thanks ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

OK those are strange. And showing up in increasing numbers?!

There was another article about them yesterday ... seems to be showing up quite a lot lately ...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... -1.4164883

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I saw a bunch of these up in Browning Pass a couple of months ago. They were all over the place, saw several per dive.

"...They’re so thick in Alaska that fishermen gave up on fishing because their hooks were coming up full of pyrosomes instead of salmon."

With enough butter and garlic anything can be delicious, yes?

But I still can't get past the idea that they look like some kind of sex toy.

.

Diving edmonds last night I saw a bunch of these hanging out on the West side of the big pontoon. Attached to ropes, just chilling

Also called "sea pickles" in an NPR report.