Isn't this thing super cool looking? This is called a sea gooseberry, or scientifically Pleurobrachia pileus. But lets just say the sea gooseberry. Many divers along the Norwegian coast come across these gooseberries. They float near the surface, and on night dives they can be spotted with just a flash light. Commonly they are found in rock pools and low tides. Can you imagine just flashing your light into the sea and seeing that?! So crazy. They are easily overlooked though because they are only 2.5 cm in diameter. They have two tentacles that can reach as much as 20 times their body length. Cool thing also about thier tentacles is that they can be retracted into pockets inside its body. They flash the rainbow colors because they retract light, and they are really pretty because of that. The rhythmic beating of the cilia allow them to swim. Some sea gooseberries will even eat each other for food. But they also eat fish eggs and larvae, molluscs, and copepod crustaceans. They catch their pray with their long tentacles, which they then real in to their mouth.
I found this REALLY cool video of the sea gooseberry and its movement. Man what an amazing creature!
http://www.arkive.org/sea-gooseberry/pleurobrachia-pileus/range-and-habitat.html
This is amazing!! It always seems like the strangest animals come out at night in the ocean! GREAT VIDEO!
ReplyDeleteI cant even believe that thing exists! I watched the clip and it looked like something from a sci fi movie or something! It's gorgeous. Some creatures are so incredible amazing that i cant even believe they are actually real. The gooseberry is most definitely astounding!
ReplyDeleteHow cool is the gooseberry? They seem kind of like jellyfish. I was curious, you said they live in low tides, so can they sting humans with their super long tentacles? And if so, what's a gooseberry sting like?
ReplyDeleteOMG+! This is awesome! I can't believe it's real. Earth has sci-fi beat a thousand times, although, that's maybe where they get the ideas from...Thanks for the great video, I'll share it w. friends. This class was worth so much more then just a grade!
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