Northwest Dive Club

I found this a couple of weeks ago swimming/dropping thru the water at Redondo on a night dive in aboptu 25-30 feet of water...Any ideas??

Can you crop that pic so we can get a better look?

Well I went back & re did it - dont know how much good it did....

Loreena Bobbit's revenge?

a worm from a fisher?

Definitely a California Pink Whistleback anemone (Californicate Bogusii) in its post-larval stage. Or a bit of jellyfish testicle, they often look the same.

you guys are a lot of help!!

Did someone say "jellyfish testicle?". Oh, damn - yes someone already guessed jellyfish testicle.

Hmmmm... If not that, then what?!

well I wrote Andy Lamb & he wasnt sure - so HE asked someone else & the answer is..........

Hi Tamara,

Looks like I had it wrong and defer to Sheila (see attached). A sipunculid is a peanut worm (page 122 in /Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest)/. I am guessing the specimen you took photos was incomplete based upon this development.

Regards,
Andy

Hi Andy,
Looks like a sipunculid, or peanut worm, to me. If you zoom in for a close
up of the body you will notice it is covered with tiny tubercles or
glandular papillae. Your question as to why it hadn't been consumed is a
good one. My quess is that the anterior end holding the tentacles has
already been consumed and basically only the mid-posterior or trunk remains.
The predation looks as tho it had just occurred. So the trunk is still quite
edible. Perhaps the diver disturbed the predator in the midst of things??
Cannot wager the exact identity of the specimen. The cuticle is quite
transparent so I am guessing a Themiste species, but it could possibly also
be a Golfingia. Difficult to ID without more parts!!
Cheers,
Sheila

Hi there -- Greg Jensen asked me to check this one as he thought it more likely to be a terebellid polychaete. I'm afraid I have to disagree with Sheila & go with Greg. Tamara's pics clearly show a "mane" of long fine tentacles. Sipuncs, phoronids, cnidarians, cukes, and all the other phyla that have tentacular crowns, feeding tentacles, etc. have much more orderly arrays. This sort of messiness is typical of terebellids. I suspect that after being dug up the animal inflated itself in order to better swim away (which I've seen before). The image shows the greatly expanded dorsum ; the lateral parapodia and ventral segmentation that would make it obvious this is a polychaete are hidden by the curl of the body. A high-res crop might help decide it one way or another.
Cheers, Leslie

Leslie wrote:Hi there -- Greg Jensen asked me to check this one as he thought it more likely to be a terebellid polychaete. I'm afraid I have to disagree with Sheila & go with Greg. Tamara's pics clearly show a "mane" of long fine tentacles. Sipuncs, phoronids, cnidarians, cukes, and all the other phyla that have tentacular crowns, feeding tentacles, etc. have much more orderly arrays. This sort of messiness is typical of terebellids. I suspect that after being dug up the animal inflated itself in order to better swim away (which I've seen before). The image shows the greatly expanded dorsum ; the lateral parapodia and ventral segmentation that would make it obvious this is a polychaete are hidden by the curl of the body. A high-res crop might help decide it one way or another.
Cheers, Leslie

I think that this sets a record for the most syllables in one post.
Congrats! :occasion5:

Wow!!!

K

I feel the same way when you start talking cameras! ;-D

Divergirl07 sent me the original pictures and I have cropped them.

These are the highest resolution crops we are going to be able to get.

Thanks Tim. Definitely a terebellid.

Thanks guys! Im just glad it wasnt really just a jellyfish testicle.....

It couldn't have been a "jellyfish testicle"..LOL.. I'm pretty sure I saw an eyeball..LOL...Hard to tell from the smaller pics though...Great guesses..I was cracking up!!