Flashy visitors found on Benson Beach

Published 7:00 pm Tuesday, January 3, 2017

CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT — The ocean offered up a unique holiday gift in the form of rare critters (for this neck of the woods) that have been washing up on local beaches since November: Pyrosomes.

Looking something like a “finger,” it actually is a colony of hundreds, or thousands, of tiny individuals called zooids.

According to the Marine Education Society of Australasia, the colonies range in size from less than a half inch to several yards in length. “Each zooid draws in water from the outside to its internal filtering mesh, extracting the microscopic plankton, and then expels the filtered water to the inside of the cylinder of the colony.” Their movement is largely controlled by tides, waves and currents.

Tiffany Boothe, of the Seaside Aquarium, noted that pyrosomes are usually found in temperate waters below 800 feet, and are “known for bright displays of bioluminescences,” flashing a highly visible pale blue-green light — hence their name, pyro (fire) and soma (body).

The little guys we are finding here are in the same family as the giant pyrosome, which is downright creepy looking and can reach lengths of 60 feet or more — and will hopefully stay where it belongs, near Australia.