• Question from:Nicola Watts

Hi

I found this washed up on a beach in the Gower peninsula.

Ive attached a photo, when I held it up to the light I could see something floating inside it, maybe an embryo.

It it was about the length of my palm
Ive tried to identify what it was but had no success. Do you have any ideas?


Many thanks
nicola

Post's pictures

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Photo
  • University of Exeter
  • Posts: 1,011

Some sharks (e.g. dogfish) and rays lay egg cases about that size that get washed up, but these "mermaids purses" are fairly distinctive in appearance - see e.g

https://applecrosslifeblog.wordpress.co … ids-purse/

Clearly what you found is something different and to me it looks like some type of ascidian tunicate (=sea squirt). I don't dive so have to admit to not being at all familiar with any of this group except the few that pop up regularly in rock pools in the intertidal zone.

Hopefully someone else can give you a better ID, but in the meantime some general info here. They don't look much perhaps, but in evolutionary terms they are very cool - almost the missing link between vertebrates like us and the inverts. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunicate