What am I ?

[Chad_Ordelheide]

Guam March 28, 2005

I saw this hanging on a rock at about 50 feet. I have no Idea what it is. If you have any ideas please let me know

ALSO!!! Please, somebody explain to me how to post the picture in the post, without a link. Because, when I add pictures to my library, old posts point the the wrong ones!!

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/16572/cat/500/page/1

 

[archman]

Some kind of urochordate would be my guess. Looks like a pyrosome, but they don't attach to reefs (or anything else). Stuck on the reef, the best bet for a whole animal would be a solitary tunicate. Looks rather flimsy and large for any tunicate I know about, though.

 

[gangrel441]

Looks awful similar to a painted tunicate, though I doubt that is the exact species, since painted tunicate is a caribbean species. I would say definately a tunicate of some type, though.

 

[anth]

I'm going along with Archman, a urochordate (tunicate) of some kind... There's only something in the neighborhood of 3000 marine urochordates tho, so I have no idea of the species. AFAIK, the only sessile ones are the ascidians (sea squirts). I'm in Maine, so I'm used to seeing different species of ascidians than you're seeing down in Guam...

DSAO

-Anthony

 

[Chad_Ordelheide]

Looks awful similar to a painted tunicate, though I doubt that is the exact species, since painted tunicate is a caribbean species. I would say definately a tunicate of some type, though.

I've seen some painted turnicates in Aruba. This one was quite a bite larger...like 2x's. And of course, hooked on by itself...I guess I need to find someone who really knows their turnicates or has a book. Thanks...