Some of our local divers out for a Saturday Lionfish Hunt just happened to run into the oddest creature- a Pyrosome. This very experienced dive team, some of whom dive all over the world and have many hours under water, were not even sure what they were looking at when they saw it. At first some thought it to be a plastic bag, but on closer observation found it to be alive. This is extremely rare in these waters. Fortunately on this dive was the team from Hijos del Mar–Matt and Tom. These professional underwater photographers have shared an amazing video (see link below) and pictures taken by diver Sev Regehr .
Pyrosomes are cylindrical- or conical-shaped colonies made up of hundreds to thousands of individuals, known as zooids. Colonies range in size from less than one centimeter to several meters in length.
Each zooid is only a few millimeters in size, but is embedded in a common gelatinous tunic that joins all of the individuals. Each zooid opens both to the inside and outside of the “tube”, drawing in ocean water from the outside to its internal filtering mesh called the branchial basket, extracting the microscopic plant cells on which it feeds, and then expelling the filtered water to the inside of the cylinder of the colony. The colony is bumpy on the outside, each bump representing a single zooid, but nearly smooth, though perforated with holes for each zooid, on the inside.
Pyrosomes move like plankton, that is, they’re mainly controlled by currents, tides, and waves in the oceans. The name Pyrosoma comes from the Greek (pyro = “fire”, soma = “body”). Pyrosomes are brightly bioluminescent, flashing a pale blue-green light that can be seen for many meters far into the night.
Amazing. I love how the divers respect their surroundings and don’t disturb anything. Thanks for sharing.
Natalie Novak from dive with Natalie and Ivan is the one who ran in to the Pyrosome and then brought every one else to see it!!!!