I was out diving yesterday at Catalina Island and ran across something I've never seen before. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so I'll have to resort to a verbal description and hope that someone out there knows what this thing was.
It was about 2 to 3 inches long drifting a couple of feet off a sandy bottom just outside a kelp bed at Crane point. At first I thought it was a jellyfish but when I got a closer look it did not have the typical bell you'd expect. Instead it was more like a colony of tiny transparent salps (roughly 4 on each side in a symmetrical pattern) linked together on one end and on the other end was a very distinct "hula skirt" arrangement of 1 inch long tentacles that it would flare if disturbed. The tentacles were flat as if someone took some paper, rolled it and cut up the roll to make little tentacles roughly a half centimeter wide. Inside this tentacle skirt was a dense arrangement of white fibers similar to what you might see in the center of certain flowers.
I understand that trying to ID something based on an ambiguous description is near impossible but if anyone has any sort of inkling as to what this might have been or steer me in the right direction I'd greatly appreciate it.
(1) How big is the critter?
It was about 2 to 3 inches long drifting a couple of feet off a sandy bottom just outside a kelp bed at Crane point. At first I thought it was a jellyfish but when I got a closer look it did not have the typical bell you'd expect. Instead it was more like a colony of tiny transparent salps (roughly 4 on each side in a symmetrical pattern) linked together on one end and on the other end was a very distinct "hula skirt" arrangement of 1 inch long tentacles that it would flare if disturbed. The tentacles were flat as if someone took some paper, rolled it and cut up the roll to make little tentacles roughly a half centimeter wide. Inside this tentacle skirt was a dense arrangement of white fibers similar to what you might see in the center of certain flowers.
I understand that trying to ID something based on an ambiguous description is near impossible but if anyone has any sort of inkling as to what this might have been or steer me in the right direction I'd greatly appreciate it.
(1) How big is the critter?
It was about 2-3 inches long
(2) Where in the world is the critter?It was seen at Crane Point at Catalina Island, California
(3) What sort of habitat (reef, wreck, sand, rubble etc) is the critter in?Just outside a kelp bed over a sandy bottom
(4) How deep is the critter?35 feet
(5) What time of day (or night) did you see the critter?It was seen mid afternoon
(6) Any observed behavior of the critter...I gently touched it with my gloved hand and it flared it's tentacles upward making it look like it was wearing a tutu or spinning while wearing a hula skirt. (hard to describe)
(7) If the locals have a common name for the critter, what is it?I'm hoping someone here can help me find this information
