An incredible tubular creature known as the 'unicorn of the sea' has been spotted floating off the coast of Port Douglas, creating a spectacular underwater vista while also perplexing divers.
Jay Wink of ABC Scuba Diving found it floating in the sea while diving off the coast of Port Douglas, Queensland.
The creature is called a pyrosome, and is a collection of thousands of tiny creatures known as zooids grouped together in a jelly-like body.
They are commonly known as 'sea pickles' or the 'unicorn of the sea' due to their improbable and mysterious nature.
The three-metre long cylinder-like being with its illuminating flashes of blue and pink made for a captivating sight under the sea.
Mr. Wink says; 'It was quite a vivid pink, just under the surface there was this bright pink, the photos don't really do it justice.'
The Giant Pyrosome is a free-floating, colonial tunicate that is made of thousands of identical clones, together forming a hollow cylindrical structure that can be 60 feet (18 m) long and wide enough for a person to enter.
The light produced by Giant Pyrosomes is particularly bright and long lasting and is beautiful to witness. Because the individual tunicates can reproduce via cloning, the colony can regenerate injured parts or continue growing after being broken apart.
Unless all individual clones are killed at the same time, a colony can theoretically live forever, shrinking and growing based on available food and physical disturbance. Individual clones are hermaphroditic; they make both eggs and sperm.
They are as fluffy and soft as they look. The few divers who have actually touched them say they are as soft as a feather boa.
Jay Wink of ABC Scuba Diving found it floating in the sea while diving off the coast of Port Douglas, Queensland.
The creature is called a pyrosome, and is a collection of thousands of tiny creatures known as zooids grouped together in a jelly-like body.
They are commonly known as 'sea pickles' or the 'unicorn of the sea' due to their improbable and mysterious nature.
The three-metre long cylinder-like being with its illuminating flashes of blue and pink made for a captivating sight under the sea.
Mr. Wink says; 'It was quite a vivid pink, just under the surface there was this bright pink, the photos don't really do it justice.'
The Giant Pyrosome is a free-floating, colonial tunicate that is made of thousands of identical clones, together forming a hollow cylindrical structure that can be 60 feet (18 m) long and wide enough for a person to enter.
Each individual clone is a small, complete animal that filters water, nonstop, in order to obtain food, flush out waste, and contribute to the propulsion of the entire super-organism.
Unless all individual clones are killed at the same time, a colony can theoretically live forever, shrinking and growing based on available food and physical disturbance. Individual clones are hermaphroditic; they make both eggs and sperm.
These clones have a notochord (“spinal” chord) and are therefore chordates, along with all vertebrates, including people.
They’re even bioluminescent, so they can flash a blue-green, white, or pinkish light that’s visible from several meters away.
They’re even bioluminescent, so they can flash a blue-green, white, or pinkish light that’s visible from several meters away.
Music: "Unwritten Return" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Source: ABC Scuba Diving , Daily Mail , Business Insider, Oceana
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