It has been brought to our attention that there exists an animal known as a sea squirt, and our lives have been forever changed. We know next to nothing about sea squirts, so learn with us!
(image via: istock)
Sea squirts are marine animals that are typically potato-shaped, just when you thought this creature couldn’t get any more unique, right? Sea squirts can be found resting on the hard surfaces of rocks and shells, and although these creatures are awfully small they digest, reproduce, and have a nervous system. These little guys are found in more shallow areas of the sea, and aside from surviving on hard surfaces, they can also be found in soft mud, sandy bottoms, and gravel grains.
You may think a sea squirt’s life expectancy is short, and while it is relatively short, they do live anywhere between seven and thirty years.
The name sea squirt had to come from somewhere, right? You’re absolutely correct. On one end of a sea squirt is a body part known as a siphon, and when removed from the water a sea squirt will violently expel water from its siphon, hence the catchy name.
Sea squirts can be anywhere between 0.2 inches to 4 inches long, and they can be green, yellow, red, orange, pink, pretty much any color of the rainbow.
Now, you might be thinking that these little creatures probably have no enemies, but that’s where you’re wrong. Natural enemies of the sea squirt include eels, large fish, snails, and starfish.
We totally get that these potato-shaped creatures are oddly adorable, but before you go out to the ocean floor trying to scoop some up, you should know that sea squirts can only exist in deep saline water.
Here is an interesting fact if we’ve ever heard one, in certain parts of the world, sea squirts are eaten. The Sea Pineapple is an edible sea squirt popularized in Japan and Korea. It has been said that despite its name, the sea pineapple is both chewy and tastes like rubber.
More than likely you won’t find a sea squirt lurking on its own, you’ll more than likely find a colony of sea squirts on the sea floor, resembling grapes.
Nobody really knows how many sea squirts exist in the world today. Scientists are able to guesstimate that there are over 23,000 different species.
(image via: britannica)