I spy with my little eye a wee little pyrosome.
In 2016-2017 pyrosomes were washing ashore en masse along Oregon’s beaches. So are they back? Will we see them in the numbers we saw in 2016-2017? Only time will tell.
Often called sea pickles or sea squirts, pyrosomes are most commonly found in tropical waters, but stormy ocean conditions are known to bring the mysterious creatures as far north as Alaska.
Pyrosoma atlanticum is the most observed species found along Oregon beaches are a rigid, bumpy, pinkish-gray tube about the size of a finger. Throughout the world pyrosomes can range in size from a few centimeters to over 30 feet long, but the common Pyrosoma atlanticum reaches a maximum length of two feet.
These totally tubular critters are actually known as a colonial tunicate, a mass of thousands of smaller organisms with a rigid notochord (a simplistic backbone).
Pyrosomes are actually colonies of multi-celled animals called zooids. Thousands of cloned zooids create the cylinder-shaped, tube-like body and are connected by tissue that enable communication and coordinated behavior.