Addendum: A damned thing?

[greygirlbeast]

So, during our most recent visit to Beavertail (recounted here, with photos), we encountered a peculiar organism in a high tide pool, among the slabs of phyllite. I had Spooky take a few photos, thinking I would be able to identify it when I got back home. So far, though, no luck. Admittedly, I don't have a lot of resources to draw upon, not here at home, and I've been relying heavily on Kenneth L. Gosner's A Field Guide to the Atlantic Shore from the Bay of Fundy to Cape Hatteras (1978). It was trapped in a very small pool, which contained not much of anything else. My first thought was that it was likely some form of sea weed with which I'm not familiar. possibly a member of the "green sea weeds" (Chlorophyta). Spooky's comment was "Gross," and I have to admit that, yes, it was sort of gross. The main body of the central "polyp," excluding those long terminal "buds," was approximately 16 centimeters long, maybe 1 centimeter in diameter at its widest point. It was motionless, and did not react when prodded. Here are two of the photos:








Right now, I really have no idea what it is. Maybe my first guess was right, and it's some variety of Chlorophyta. I've also considered sponges, cnidarians, bryozoans (it looks a little like the "Rubbery Bryozoan," Alcyonidium spp., though the colour's wrong), polychaete worms, and a number of other groups. It may, of course, be the larval form of some species, or only a fragment of a much larger organism (part of a larger plant, perhaps). But, at the moment, it's got me stumped, and I think, from now on, I'll carry specimen jars with me, so I can get beasts like this under the microscope. All in all, this guy seems as "odd" as anything from the Burgess Shale fauna...

Comments

[tjcrowley.livejournal.com]

Looks like a baby Chthonian according to my Peterson's Field Guide to Cthulhu Monsters!

[deviblue.livejournal.com]

it looks like it could leap out at you at any moment and attach itself to your face.

eep

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

It just wants to hold your hand...

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

For ever and ever and ever and...

(I know, I'm not being helpful.)

Dead Man's Fingers?

[cliff52.livejournal.com]

see the reference to Alcionidium Verilli:
http://books.google.com/books?id=BhCbWmyKrZcC&pg=PA113&dq=Rubbery+Bryozoan&ei=3hRwSITSFIm2iwGy-vHdDQ&sig=ACfU3U3t-UYIvCcWmz1lS5-2uRoA7fIY6w#PPA113,M1

Re: Dead Man's Fingers?

[cliff52.livejournal.com]

not codium fragile, also called 'dead man's fingers'

[derekcfpegritz.livejournal.com]

It's a shoggoth nymph, app. two or three weeks old. Freshly-budded from a mother-mass.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

It's a shoggoth nymph, app. two or three weeks old. Freshly-budded from a mother-mass.

Damn.

[derekcfpegritz.livejournal.com]

Good thing you didn't try to take it home. Next thing you know, the sucker'd fill an entire bathtub and be able to consume an entire cow everyday.

[mrs-ralph.livejournal.com]

Initially I took your specimen for part of an animal but after consideration I decided it was most likely a plant. It looks very much like a succulent 'leaf' either budding or rooting. I would class it as the same general plant type as Burro's Tail and Jade Plant, able to root from a single leaf, but beyond that I don't have a clue or anything to say about it beyond 'Cool!'.

[batwrangler.livejournal.com]

When I had a question about weird stuff I found on a beach (http://batwrangler.livejournal.com/256549.html) in ME, I emailed the folks at http://seagrant.mit.edu/ and they helped ID it.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

When I had a question about weird stuff I found on a beach in ME, I emailed the folks at http://seagrant.mit.edu/ and they helped ID it.

Well, I'm still stumped, so i may do that very thing. Also, Spooky's father works with the folks at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and he may someone who'd look at the photos. Thanks!