Just a quick photo of several pyrosomes washed up on Salmon Creek Beach tonight (28 October 2021).
It's been a while since we've seen pyrosomes locally, but the storm must have pushed some closer to shore as there were hundreds (or even thousands) of pyrosomes on the beach tonight. Most were relatively small —
ranging from ~1-3 cm long.
There was an impressive diversity of offshore gelatinous zooplankton washed up tonight — including the pyrosomes, two types of pteropod, one species of heteropod, two kinds of salps, and one siphonophore. I'll try to show examples of them during the next day or two.
To review an introduction to pyrosomes, check out the post called "Fire bodies" from 8 December 2014.
Hi Jackie, Pyrosomes are new to me and your account, "Fire bodies" from 8 December 2014, has been most informative and really interesting. I have 2 questions:
ReplyDeleteWhat is the usual habitat and location where this particular species, "probably Pyrosoma atlanticum" is found?
And also, the bioluminescense you mentioned in 2014 seems so neat!! Are you aware of any success in keeping pyrosomes in a salt water aquarium, perhaps one at the Marine Lab there in BB?
Vishnu
Hi, Vishnu!
ReplyDeleteGood questions. I'm busy getting ready for field work during the low tides this week, so I'm going to try pasting a link here for a short article summarizing some info about the distribution of pyrosomes:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326497471_Range_expansion_of_tropical_pyrosomes_in_the_northeast_Pacific_Ocean
(If the link doesn't work, let me know and I'll figure out a way to get the article to you.)
Also, for your second question: Pelagic invertebrates are notoriously difficult to maintain in the lab. But if you encounter pyrosomes on the beach, if the light levels are dim or you can create a dark setting, you could try putting them in some ocean water (in a bowl or ziploc bag) and you might see the bioluminescence. It's impressive!
Jackie
Jackie, thanks for your reply and, yes, the link worked and thoroughly answered a great deal about pyrosomes and suggested to me other places to search. Also the more I read the more apparent it became that there would likley be great difficulties in maintaining some outside of their ocean home. Too bad, as it would be amazing to see them floating around and fluorescing before your eyes.
ReplyDeleteVishnu