Pyrosomes. Ever hear the word? Unless you are into marine life along the West Coast, you probably didn’t know much about the finger-long creature that are more often called Sea Pickles or Sea Squirts. They are normally found in the warmer tropical waters, but stormy weather and a few strong currents, can send the rigid, bumpy, pinkish-gray Prysoma atlanticum north into the colder waters off the Pacific Northwest. They have been spotted recently washed ashore on the beaches of Oregon’s North Coast. While interesting to look at, there’s not much to them. They are described as tubular and actually house thousands of smaller organisms with a rigid notochord, backbone.
