Yesterday I post this image, asking if the community knew what this creature was.
I had a few good guesses but now its time to reveal what it is.
An Orange Sea Pen, Ptilosarcus gurneyi
Orange sea pens can grow up to half a metre and looks a large fluffy bird plume in an ink pot. They can range in colour from dark orange to yellow or white. Instead of a single animal, it is a colony of polyps arranged into thick fleshy branches; these branches attach to the stalk, which is the primary polyp. This polyp has lost its tentacles, and provides structure and support with an internal calcareous rod (its "skeleton") and thickened bulb-like base, most of which is buried in the sediment.
These animals have the amazing ability to contract and expand by expelling or taking on water; the feather-like structure may become unrecognizable when the colony contracts down below the sediment, as it can bury nearly its entire length if sufficiently threatened.
The orange sea pen anchors its bulbous base into sandy or muddy sea floors from the shallow subtidal to 135 m deep. This species can form beds, which may be as dense as 20 pens per square metre. Its range extends from the Gulf of Alaska to southern California.
Thanks for reading.
Scott
For more stories and images - http://www.scottstevensonphotography.ca/
It looks so strange to meet such a bright colors in an almost complete darkness
this was amazing👏👏👏 under water photography
Wow awesome photos, I like em.
Really beautiful pictures my friend
Wow, that was so hard ro guess :))
Very good you post.... Good luck every day...
Great info and pictures!
Welcome to land of the free. I have never actually really worked for a company, so I can only imagine. But I can tell you for sure, you will enjoy doing what you love to do, and I've followed your blogs and vlogs so far, you pretty much enjoy the new life you have been living. Congrats man, I wish you all the best...
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Thank You! ⚜
There's a lot of things we don't know yet under the ocean. That yellow thing look creepy but really beautiful.
Yes, I would never have thought that it was, it turns out, a sea feather! Live and learn forever! Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge!