# Identify this marine ...ummm... \*specimen\* **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 27, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-marine-ummm-specimen/358467 "2006-05-27T18:00:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-marine-ummm-specimen/358467/1 "2006-05-27T18:00:17Z")
As it’s summertime here in England, we went for a picnic on the beach today. As it’s summertime here in England, it was also cold, cloudy, spitting with rain and there was a very strong and persistent wind blowing onshore. The throngs of wind and kite surfers probably thought it was a nice day anyway. The waves whipped up by the strong winds have brought ashore a great deal of interesting debris; lots of cuttlebones, seaweed, shells of all shapes and sizes. Plus a number of objects I’ve never seen before. [here](http://www.gurman.co.uk/stuff/whatisit.jpg) is a picture of the largest one of them (apologies for the poor quality of the image - it was taken on a camera phone). They are flattened ovoid capsules with a very densely resilient tough, rubbery texture, mottled sandy-beige to peach-orange in colour; variable in size from about three inches up to eight inches long (the one in the photo). Some of them had short longitudinal slits and the last one we examined had what appeared to be a sphinctered opening midway along one side. The all seemed to have a stone (or similar) embedded in one end. What are they? Molluscs oif some kind? Egg cases? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-marine-ummm-specimen/358467/2 "2006-05-27T18:02:30Z")
Euuuw. Shark eggs? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-marine-ummm-specimen/358467/3 "2006-05-27T18:39:20Z")
Is anybody missing a diseased tongue? ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-marine-ummm-specimen/358467/4 "2006-05-27T19:12:34Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > What are they? Molluscs oif some kind? Egg cases? Sea slug? My long-lost Uncle Fester? ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-marine-ummm-specimen/358467/5 "2006-05-27T22:57:41Z")
My guess is limpets. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-marine-ummm-specimen/358467/6 "2006-05-27T23:30:52Z")
Limpets? The limpets we get here are maybe an inch in diameter at the most; this thing was bigger than my hand. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-marine-ummm-specimen/358467/7 "2006-05-27T23:39:41Z")
Could it be a [lancelet](http://www.zoology.ubc.ca/courses/bio204/lab1_photos.htm) (Amphioxus, third pic down) or a [hagfish](http://vivaldi.zool.gu.se/Fiskfysiologi_2001/Course_material/Introduction_fish_evolution/Images/Hagfish-II.jpg)? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-marine-ummm-specimen/358467/8 "2006-05-28T00:36:22Z")
Dunno; the other specimens we found were more regular in shape; just flat oval rubbery things - shaped like an elongated bar of soap. I think I may have to go back there tomorrow at low tide and retrieve one for dissection. I’m wondering if it might be the body of a bivalve mollusc that has been removed from its shell; there are always some very large(up to fist size) and heavy bivalve shells on this beach, often broken into pieces (and I mean heavy - the shell is about a centimetre thick) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-marine-ummm-specimen/358467/9 "2006-05-28T01:13:40Z")
Aha! I think I’ve got a match; at the bottom of [this](http://www.wildinbritain.co.uk/LifeontheEdge/Sponges.htm) page is something called an _encrusting sponge_ - the location, description (including the fact that there were embedded stones) and the picture all seem to match. ---
**Author:** ![Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silence_of_the_clams)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-marine-ummm-specimen/358467/10 "2006-05-28T16:14:10Z")
Just from the picture it is impossible for me to come up with a qualified guess, it could be anything from a sponge to dead-mans-fingers to a sea squirt to … But, take a look in [here](http://www.habitas.org.uk/marinelife/) to see if you find something looks like what you saw. I guess that would be the best way to start trying to identify what you saw. ---
**Author:** ![solkoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@solkoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solkoe)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-marine-ummm-specimen/358467/11 "2006-05-28T22:49:59Z")
Looks like a sea squirt. Check images from google. Sorry, I don’t know how to do links yet. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-marine-ummm-specimen/358467/12 "2006-05-28T23:10:34Z")
Thanks, but I’m pretty confident that it’s the encrusting sponge on the page I linked above; the specimen on that page was found on more or less the same beach as mine. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-marine-ummm-specimen/358467/13 "2006-05-28T23:16:33Z")
> [@solkoe](#): > > Looks like a sea squirt. Check images from google. Sorry, I don’t know how to do links yet. Select the entire contents of the Address Bar and Right Click and choose Copy. (or Ctrl -C) then in the Edit Window Right Click and Paste (or Ctrl-V). Jim ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-marine-ummm-specimen/358467/14 "2006-05-28T23:30:52Z")
> [@What Exit?](#): > > Select the entire contents of the Address Bar and Right Click and choose Copy. (or Ctrl -C) then in the Edit Window Right Click and Paste (or Ctrl-V). > > Jim Even better, do the above up to the “then”, but use the full Reply window rather than the “quick reply.” Click on the globe-and-paperclip icon (beneath the “color” drop box at the top, then paste the URL in there with Ctrl-V, and select text. That turns the result into a clickable link that is a word or phrase rather than an ugly URL embedded in the text. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-marine-ummm-specimen/358467/15 "2006-05-28T23:40:52Z")
It looks like an egg case. Which had hatched. And whatever was inside is now well-advanced on its mission to Invade the Land. Keep an eye on your pets and kids. ---
**Author:** ![solkoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@solkoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solkoe)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-marine-ummm-specimen/358467/16 "2006-05-28T23:46:36Z")
Thanks What exit and Polycarp. [Here](http://www.straightdope.com/) is a link to my favourite site. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2006, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-marine-ummm-specimen/358467/17 "2006-05-29T07:26:06Z")
The pods! They’re breaking open!