The Associated Press
JUNEAU, Alaska–Strange sea creatures that resemble large pink thimbles are showing up on the coast of southeast Alaska for the first time after making their way north along the West Coast for the last few years.
Scientists say the creatures are pyrosomes, which are tropical, filter-feeding spineless creatures usually found along the equator.
They appear to be one long pink tube but in reality, they’re thousands of multi-celled creatures mushed together, generally about six inches (15 cm) long.
Pyrosomes have been working their way north, Ric Brodeur, a researcher with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told the Associated Press on Monday.
Brodeur, who is based at the agency’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Newport, Ore., said pyrosomes first were seen on the Oregon coast in 2014 and every year since.
More recently, the animals have made their way up farther north on the Washington state coast, Canada’s British Columbia, and Alaska.
Jim Murphy, a biologist with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said pyrosomes spotted near Alaska this year marked the first documented presence of the animals that far north.
And their appearance is cause for concern.
“It means that we are clearly seeing really big changes in the marine ecosystem,” he told The Juneau Empire.
Researchers have speculated that the bloom is tied to warmer ocean temperatures in the Pacific Ocean in recent years.
But temperatures nearly have cooled back to normal this year, Murphy noted, and these pyrosomes started showing up in the middle of winter.
Leon Shaul, a biologist with Fish and Game, has been tracking the appearance of pyrosomes in southeast Alaska.
Brodeur told the AP that it’s also unusual how close to shore the pyrosomes have come, although they now are being found farther offshore again.
He said the creatures have a low nutritional value, and that raises concerns on how they will affect the fish that eat them.
Pyrosomes aren’t harmful to humans, but they have puzzled those who have encountered them.
Angler Don Jeske was fishing for king salmon in February when he said he found himself surrounded by “millions” of the tube-shaped creatures and he’d never seen anything like it.
