The glide of the Pacific Northwest is in the midst of a mass encroachment by of “ sea pickles , ” a uncommon marine organism also known as a pyrosome .
This current bloom along the west coast of the US isbeing investigatedby the NOAA Fisheries ’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center , Oregon State University , and the University of Oregon . During just a five - minute midwater tow off the Columbia River in late May , they managed to fetch up approximately 60,000 pyrosomes .
Very piffling is known about these tool . In fact , since we know very little about the feeding behaviour of pyrosomes and their favored environment . even less is known about why are they are abruptly being spotted in such abundant numbers at the moment . However , the independent perpetrator at the moment is warming sea temperatures , make by climate variety .
“ We have a raft of question and not many answer , ” Ric Brodeur , Northwest Fisheries Science Center ’s enquiry station in Newport , explain ina statement . “We’re trying to pull together as much information as we can to seek to infer what is take place , and why . ”
Their mysteriousness has led them to be also called “ the unicorn of the sea , ” although perhaps more close resemble a Portuguese man-of-war - like float blob . Each one of them is made up of hundreds to chiliad of multicellular organism have sex as zooid . On ordinary , they vary in size between 4 to 6 centimeters ( ~1inch ) although the researchers have spotted some measuring up to 78 centimetre ( 30 inches).They are also a rare delicacy for some species of bony fish , dolphins , and whale .
Sightings of sea pickles have been reported more and more since 2015 . The saltation of 2016 also witnessed as massive in their numbers racket , although this twelvemonth ’s roaring is “ unprecedented , ” according to the NOAA .
“ At first we did n’t know what to make of these unmatched creatures coming up in our profits but as we headed north and further offshore , we started to get more and more , ” order Hilarie Sorensen , a University of Oregon graduate scholarly person who was on display panel a enquiry vessel . “ We began reckon and measuring them to endeavor to get a good understanding of their size and distribution related to the local environmental condition . ”
