Just Another Regular Blog

sixpenceee:

Deep in the oceans of the southern hemisphere exist 60-foot long tubular creatures that undulate through the water. They’re called pyrosomes. A pyrosome is actually a colony of zooids, a kind of marine invertebrates only about half an inch long.

A pyrosome colony is shaped like a giant tube, closed to a point on one end (this is the front end) and open on the other end (the back end), sometimes with a tail poking out. The walls of this tube are the colony — the individuals (clones) are embedded in a gelatinous material. Their mouths face outwards from the tube, giving them easy access to take in water. They pass that water through their “stomachs” to filter out anything edible, namely plankton, then squirt the filtered water out their other side into the space within the tube. 

This action of sucking in and spitting out water not only helps the colony keep its shape, it’s how the colony moves. This tube is constantly moving, albeit extremely slowly. So while they look completely terrifying, pyrosomes are innocuous and delicate; a gentle wave carries enough force to tear one apart. (Source)