The Gelatinous Blob on the Shore: It's Sea Pork

While strolling along the coast, have you ever stumbled upon something resembling a sand-covered alien organ or an inside-out small animal? Perhaps you pondered philosophically, What is the ocean if not an immense vessel filled with enigmatic blobs? Could this be a dolphin's pancreas, a fragment of Jimmy Hoffa's brain, or perhaps some unusually solid manatee regurgitation. What a strange world we live in! Or maybe the sight lingers in your nightmares, much like that eerie doll you once spotted at Goodwill. Regardless, that jelly-like mass you discovered might just have been sea pork.

Sea pork refers to a tunicate, one of the ocean's most abundant yet perplexingly complex invertebrates. With around 3,000 species, tunicates spend their days filtering tiny food particles by drawing water in and expelling it. This behavior earns them the nickname 'sea squirts,' which is quite fitting. The name 'sea pork' comes from their occasional resemblance to small chunks of pig fat, though this isn't always the case.

Tunicates display a wide array of forms (barrels, bottles, spheres), textures (ranging from brain-like to pitted putty), and hues (lavender, crimson, beige, translucent blue), most of which bear no resemblance to pork. However, the color you observe is often a slimy covering, or 'tunic,' worn by a group of tiny organisms known as zooids. While some tunicates live alone or drift in open waters, the majority thrive in colonies anchored to the seabed, typically no deeper than 660 feet (200 meters). These creatures unite as juveniles, forming protective clusters and spending their lives feeding within their gelatinous communal homes. Those found on beaches are usually dislodged during storms.

Though tunicates lead uneventful daily lives, their life cycles are remarkably intriguing. As hermaphrodites, they avoid self-fertilization through various methods, such as releasing sperm and eggs at different times or producing gametes that are incompatible with each other. Surprisingly, tunicates are classified as chordates, despite adult forms lacking backbones.

Occupying a gray area between vertebrates and invertebrates, sea pork larvae initially resemble tadpoles, complete with tails and a notochord. Upon maturity, they settle on the ocean floor, joining colonies or attaching to rocks using adhesive glands. Most species shed their tails and notochords (except for the free-floating Larvacae, which retain their chordate traits) and spend their lives filtering water.

Next time you spot sea pork on the shore, show some respect—it’s a chordate, just like you!