The vast sea that we enjoy visiting during vacations holds infinite mysteries. As deep as our planet’s oceans and seas are, there is a big possibility that certain creatures are left to be discovered. An image is going viral around the internet, showing a bizarre-looking creature fishermen caught from the sea.
The Daily Star website reports that the Australian fisherman pulled out a weird-looking, unknown creature and shared its image on a Facebook group, asking others what it was. The fisherman is a regular of the Western Port, in southern Victoria.
In the now-viral photo, the organism is shaped like a feather from above while its bottom part is orange-coloured and has a tube-like shape, crooked at the end. After the image was shared, the netizens had a field day making assumptions about it. While some made fun of its shape, another suggested that it could be a sea cucumber. The replies progressively worsened, so much that the posters had to turn off the comment section.
According to Dr Merrick Ekins from the Queensland Museum, the organism is most likely a sea pen, belonging to the virgularia species. Furthermore, the Collection Manager of the Sessile Marine Invertebrates stated these creatures are not harmful but just endemic. The official website of the Melbourne Museum says that sea pens are an animal colony made up of polyps.
As per the information, sea pens are marine invertebrates belonging to the same class of anemones and corals. Their habitats include current swept places, protected bays, gulfs and deep waters around open coasts. The lower tube-like part is called a stalk, stays buried in the sand while the feather-like upper part remains up and is used to collect food and water pumping.
A sea pen’s diet consists of planktons and they can grow up to 46 centimetres. The organism is not harmful at all but if picked up, it can feel pricky.
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