Flora or Fauna?

Advice
#1

I have been trying to identify something I have seen in the tidal shallows of Assateague. They consist of a gelatinous, diaphanous tube that is attached to the bottom and sways with the tide. An inch or so in diameter, as much as a couple of feet long. What the heck are they? I have not been able to locate them in my seashore guidebooks. Animal or vegetable? Native or Alien? Terrestrial or Extraterestrial?



Jim

#2

mermaids necklace
I believe you’re refering to Whelk Egg Cases



http://www.asergeev.com/pictures/archives/compress/2003/366/08.htm



We made a brief stop at Assateague Island last Easter. They had some of these in the hands on pool at the visitor’s center. I’d love to go back to camp & kayak sometime.

#3

very nice
and excellent use of the word diaphanous, still one of my favorites. I like the name mermaid’s necklace the picture does it justice.

#4

Thanks, but not
Whelk egg cases. These would not have survived the “hands on” tank at the visitor’s center! Color was rusty brown and semi-transparent.



I need to consult the species program Mr. Spock used in “The Journey Home”.



Jim

#5

Maybe “sea squirts”…

– Last Updated: Feb-03-05 1:49 PM EST –

... Ciona intestinalis - Diameter and appearance about as you describe (color anywhere from pale yellowish to greenish to blueish, even reddish) - but yours seem longer that what I see for these:

http://www.marlin.ac.uk/images/species/Chordata/o_Cioint.jpg

http://www.ascidians.com/families/cionidae/Ciona_intestinalis/NORcionaintest8.jpg

http://www.vattenkikaren.gu.se:16080/Fakta/arter/chordata/tunicata/cioninte/cioninf.gif

Closest I know of without more info. They are animals - and popular with scientists as they have very simple genome, yet the tadpose-like larvae have a rudimentary backbone. Makes them a distant cousin, but a lot closer than invertebrates.


Another less likely option: Enteromorph? A tubular algae.? They look pretty clearly like plants though, being so green:

http://www.rbgsyd.gov.au/__data/page/1769/enteromorpha2.gif.

Any more you can add to the description? Lots of things in the waters...

#6

This is frustrating!
No Greyak, none of the above. If you can imagine a small version of a woman’s stocking, attached to the bottom, similat in color. I’m wondering if I was seeing an inverted feeding tube/stomach of some buried animal…



Jim