Comments on: Is it seaweed?

By: Amy Wagner Fishing

Amy Wagner Fishing — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:51:47 +0000

Wow that was really amazing I have never seen anything like that, it looks like sea weed but it also reminds me of an anemone because they too do that whole curling up thing except that they don’t go and bury themselves in the sand.

By: Unidentified weirdness

Unidentified weirdness — Sun, 10 May 2009 19:52:43 +0000

[...] on the identity of this bad boy over at DSN ranged from some sort of cnidarian (like a soft coral or anemone) to a sea cucumber or even some [...]

By: keir

keir — Sun, 10 May 2009 08:36:11 +0000

Another vote for sea cucumber/ holothurian – it appears to have five main “branches”, the oral feeding structures, which accords with the pentaradial body plan of sea cucumbers.

By: Liza J

Liza J — Fri, 08 May 2009 05:22:14 +0000

My first guess would be that it’s some kind of sea cucumber. The burrowing sea cucumbers at my work behave in the same way when disturbed.

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:10:19 +0000

Bob makes a good case for cnidaria. This one is a pretty close match: http://www.starfish.ch/Fotos/cnidarians-Nesseltiere/corals-Korallen-Anthozoa/hexacorallia-Hexakorallen/sea-anemones-Seeanemonen/Actinodendron-glomeratum2.jpg

By: Bob Abela

Bob Abela — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:48:00 +0000

Not sure I would touch it with my bare hands, appears to be a branching aneomones (Achinodendron sp).

By: Kevin Z

Kevin Z — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:43:33 +0000

Sea cuke

By: Jason R

Jason R — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:08:43 +0000

Just speculating, but maybe it is the chelonibranch of a buried arsegill sea turtle?

By: planktongrl

planktongrl — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:36:33 +0000

My vote is for a holothurian (sea cucumber). Anyone send this to ChrisM at the Echinoblog?

By: Madhu

Madhu — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:11:49 +0000

A couple of marine biologist colleagues here in my department (including a seaweed phylogeneticist) suggest it might be some kind of sea cucumber – the oral tentacles of one.