The animals range in color from a creamy translucent pearl to olive or tan. In Japan, there are some red species.
''This thing is ugly,'' Babb said. ''It has no socially redeeming virtues.''
Posted on 05/25/2006 2:55:50 PM PDT by neverdem
ASSOCIATED PRESS
GROTON, Conn. (AP) -- A blob-like creature is invading Long Island Sound and posing a threat to its lobsters and other shellfish, University of Connecticut scientists say.
The researchers say they have found colonies of invasive sea squirts, blob-shaped animals that reproduce easily, on the floor of the sound.
They believe this variety of sea squirt, known as didemnum, arrived on the hulls of ships from Asia. They have no known predators.
''This thing has the potential for causing significant economic impact when it attaches to the floor of the Sound, where it blankets and suffocates shellfish and lobsters,'' said Ivar Babb, director of UConn's Undersea Research Center at Avery Point in Groton.
The animals range in color from a creamy translucent pearl to olive or tan. In Japan, there are some red species.
''This thing is ugly,'' Babb said. ''It has no socially redeeming virtues.''
The UConn researchers, who want to document how much of the Sound's floor the sea squirt blankets, went out Tuesday on UConn's 72-foot coastal research vessel.
Using a remote-controlled robot, they began mapping a region of about 1 square mile near Fisher's Island, taking pictures and video.
''We are seeing some large colonies of these sea squirts,'' said Robert Whitlach, a professor of marine sciences at UConn at Avery Point, who was on board the boat Tuesday afternoon. ''Sometimes they are a few inches in diameter; other times they are a mat 4 to 5 square feet.''
They cannot break the colonies apart, Babb said. Like sea stars that become damaged, they can grow replacement parts. Splitting one sea squirt in half doesn't kill it; it only creates two of the plankton-eating creatures.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Can you eat them?
The animals range in color from a creamy translucent pearl to olive or tan. In Japan, there are some red species.
''This thing is ugly,'' Babb said. ''It has no socially redeeming virtues.''
"Can you eat them?"
Beat me
Blob like creature? Any sightings of the Cape Cod Orca?
ping
George W. Bush created sea squirts so that big corporations, oil companies, Republicans, Rush Limbaugh, white men, SUV owners, the Christian Coalition, and gun owners could steal from The French.
Whenever I read about some new invasive species, e.g., zebra mussels, I wonder if we've just discovered cheaper feed for pigs and chickens. Or we could just make 'em into Soylent Green for Somalia.
I don't know.
Are you sure it's SUV owners or the SUVs themselves? You know they operate under their own power.
The only animal that we really can't eat is the Puffer fish (except for an itsy-bitsy piece of meat that has to be removed by a licensed Sushi professional) and the Duckbill Platypus. So, you should be able to eat it; but it probably tastes worse than it looks.
THANKS! It's dinner time, and will now take me hours to regain my appetite.
It looks like a Booger
Sounds like Black Oil - better call Scully and Mulder.
Holy CRAP that pic is downright evil lookiing!!!!
Satans spawn.
:(
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