Skip to main content
Close

Pyrosome Jellyfish

Pyrosoma atlanticum

Photo by Blogie
Published on Project Noah
Zoom
NominateNominate for Wildlife Photograph of the Month
reportFlag Spotting

6.92864, 125.679

Field Notes

Description:

A colony of Pyrosoma atlanticum is cylindrical and can grow up to 60cm long and 4-6cm wide. The constituent zooids form a rigid tube which may be pale pink, yellowish or bluish. One end of the tube is narrower and is closed while the other is open and has a strong diaphragm. The zooids are known to be bioluminescent.

Habitat:

P. atlanticum is a pelagic species of marine colonial tunicate found in temperate waters all over the world.

Notes:

I spotted this floating at around 40 to 50 feet. It's cylindrical and translucent, with red or orange flecks all over its length. There also appear to be cillia or very short tentacles all over. It appears to be hollow, but the body surface is hard. It was about 6 inches long.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (2)

Thanks for the suggestion, chimetsetan! I'll look it up.
it looks like Euplectella... a poriferan of ocean. Simplest animal group. :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euplectella

Accelerate our Mission to Photograph 
Every Species in the World!

Image
Butterflies icon

Wildlife Community

Wildlife Community

Join a worldwide community passionate about wildlife and nature!

Join Project Noah

Nature School

Nature School

Transform your green space into a curiosity-creating nature classroom!

Visit Nature School

Wildlife Game

Wildlife Game

Defend wildlife throughout the jungle in thrilling nature game!

Play Baboon