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[XiaNaphryz]

http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Bizarre-sea-pickles-invade-the-West-Coast-by-11248251.php

"Sea pickles," millions of them, clogging fishing nets, snagging hooks and littering the Northwest's beautiful beaches. The gelatinous critters, called pyrosomes, are actually colonies of multi-celled animals known as zooids.

Pyrosomes can grow to more than 30 feet in length, but most washing up on beaches resemble transparent, tubular worms ranging from a few inches to over a foot long. Covered with small bumps, they are firm like cucumbers, but when touched they ooze a jelly-like pus, the National Geographic's Craig Welsh notes.

During a cruise to study the creatures off the Oregon coast two weeks ago, one team of researchers reportedly scooped up 60,000 pyrosomes in five minutes.

"There were reports of some pyrosomes in 2014, and a few more in 2015, but this year there has been an unprecedented, insane amount," researcher Olivia Blondheim told the Guardian.

No one knows where the gummy, bioluminescent critters are coming from or what is fueling their population boom. If fact, little is known about pyrosomes at all, other than that reproduce assexually. What they eat or what eats them largely remains a mystery, writes Welsh.

Previously, their range has been limited to tropical or semi-tropical areas such as parts of the Mediterranean Sea or off Australia.

Some scientists think warmer ocean conditions are to blame for their sudden concentration in the Northwest, but unusual sea currents or a change in diet could also be factors. According to the Smithsonian, Sitka (Alaska) fisherman have stopped fishing for salmon altogether because waters are so choked with sea pickles.

Normally pyrosomes, also known as "fire bodies," stay submerged fairly deep, but recently they have invaded the upper depths of the ocean, especially in Alaska. Scientists worry that their numbers are so great, they may be sucking up oxygen that other marine life need to survive.

Pyrosomes have already been spotted in Monterey Bay.

 

[Omega Kirby]

Time to find a way to eat them

Gordon Ramsay you're up

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

The new SyFy original movie "Invasion of the Sea Pickles"

 

[ItIsOkBro]

can they be eaten

 

[How About No]

Glow in the Dark Limited Edition Cucumbers (now with slime)

 

[Impeccable]

Flavour?

 

[Makonero]

 

[Neuromancer]

They look like dildos but I guess "sea pickle" is probably a more appropriate name.

 

[Username1198]

More like sea penis

 

[itwasTuesday]

Steve-O banned from west coast.

 

[bggrthnjsus]

was hopin for this

 

[MrToughPants]

Hard as a cucumber and oozes a gooey substance.

 

[Cosmo Clock 21]

*google image searches pyrosome*

well okay then

 

[CornBurrito]

People asking if they can be eaten, but these are clearly going to find use as sex toys.

 

[Lucky Seven]

Hopefully they taste like chicken.

 

[magnificenz]

They look like dildos but I guess "sea pickle" is probably a more appropriate name.

More like sea penis

Penis? *looks at the picture* Do not see it at all but okey.

What kind of penis have you guys seen. Hope I do not see them ever.

Back at ot, looks delicious with some salt.

 

[digitaldevmike]

They're running from something. Time to panic.

 

[Lemonz]

 

[WrenchNinja]

 

[How About No]

they look more like con dumbs

 

[TheGreatDirector]

Kos...or some say Kosm.

 

[The Real Abed]

Hey did anyone make the observation that they look like dildos yet?

 

[.JayZii]

I'm sure we can find a use for those.

 

[Lubricus]

Need some peanut oil.

 

[AnathemicOne]

But can we eat them?

 

[SRG01]

They look like transparent sea cucumber...

 

[Incandenza]

 

[Theonik]

Can McDonald's incorporate them on the Filet O' Fish?

 

[How About No]

They look like transparent sea cucumber...

well that's what happens when it sits in the brine

Spoiler

shrimp

 

[Speevy]

GAFers with their cum-slathered, transparent scaly penises.

 

[Volimar]

GAFers with their cum-slathered, transparent scaly penises.

Tag fishing?

 

[How About No]

GAFers with their cum-slathered, transparent scaly penises.

thats someone's fetish






not mine

 

[User Name Here]

Cthulhu returns! All hail Cthulhu!

 

[Breakage]

It look like it'd taste like lychees or something not that I would eat them.

 

[v1lla21]

This is the ultraribbed condom I've been looking for

 

[Piggus]

Flavour?

...The guide says they're not that bad.

 

[wenis]

"Sea pickles," millions of them, clogging fishing nets, snagging hooks and littering the Northwest's beautiful beaches.

So nature fighting back over-fishing and de-populization of natural resources.

 

[Septimus Prime]

I mean, jellyfish is actually really good, so if these taste like jellyfish (or sea cucumber), we're solid.

 

[FUME5]

If you're going to fuck with the biggest ecosystem on the planet, it's going to try to fuck you back.

 

[whiteninja]

Here they come!

 

[JeffZero]

...The guide says they're not that bad.

You're not actually going to eat them, are you?

 

[All Possible Ways]

I guess the age of fish dominance is over...

 

[ST2K]

No one knows where the gummy, bioluminescent critters are coming from or what is fueling their population boom. If fact, little is known about pyrosomes at all, other than that reproduce assexually. What they eat or what eats them largely remains a mystery, writes Welsh.

This is why we need to invest more in ocean research.

That is not a paragraph you should read about life on Earth in the 21st century.

 

[Goon]

That dude has some weird looking hands man

 

[hurricanes]

Are they edible? Do they taste good?

 

[Premium Quality]

Can we have sex with them and then eat them?

 

[Shadow Puppetry]

I was expecting the orcas to find a way to invade land first, not "sea pickles".

 

[Wag]

 

[ERotIC]

We'll find a way to take care of this problem.




...Where there's a Dill, there's a way.

 

[Generalpsyduck]

How are they gonna get out of this pickle?