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This little yellow creature is about an inch or two in diameter and looks like a mathematical entity called a fractal. There are small knobs sprouting from larger knobs down to the limit of our resolution.
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Little yellow creature
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In September 2007 we found a few instances of this phenomena we call sea smoke. We think this is animals spawning, releasing their gametes into the sea water in hopes that these male and female sex cells will mix and fertilize, producing baby whatevers, which will become part of the plankton. Our primary suspect for this display is the giant ribbon worm, Cerebratulus lacteus. It may grow to a meter or more in length.
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Probably large worms spawning
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In June 2008 we blundered upon this fish-looking critter hiding in a burrow dug in mud bottom at a depth of 50 feet. I could only classify it as a megafaunal burrower, which translates to "a sort of large burrowing animal". The snake blenny is known to inhabit these waters and to be a burrowing fish but the available pictures don't match up too well with what you see here.
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Possibly a snake blenny or relative
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I thought this might be animal droppings but I can't imagine that if true, it would be displayed so prominently. Some creature has gone to the trouble to build little mounds of broken shell and sand and left this residue behind. The material disintegrates under the slightest touch from the ROV skid. Perhaps this an egg mass of some sort, but nowhere near as resilient as the
moon snail sand collars
that protect their eggs. These two mounds were found in 60 feet of water.
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Animal Extrusions?
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