Strange, weird or odd or whatever beach finds thread….

Bagman · Aug 7, 2022

I believe that a New Jersey white fish.

BriGuy · Aug 7, 2022

Ordinarily, I would wait for @Cabezon to weigh in and provide a truly educated and accurate identification, however, I am willing to accept this thread's assertion that the creature:

Is some type of squid,
Uses the Bernoulli effect to propel itself through the water using the cone-shaped nozzle at its tail,
Is entirely unsuitable for any type of calamari,
And is likely native to, or originates from, New Jersey.

I think I'm good with that. No need to bother @Cabezon.

Wadin' Boot · Aug 8, 2022

Well I cleaned up one of those from our front yard in this last week, wasn't taking any chances on its provenance so it was handled with nitriles. So this is not just a saltwater creature. I also picked up a foil wrapper near this thing, I believe it may live in the foil wrapper before emerging. Finally I picked up a lot of empty taco bell refuse, including disposable bowls.

Phil K · Aug 8, 2022

Well yuck, now I've lost my appetite.

Back to our regularly scheduled program! Technically, this doesn't count; I found it stashed under a bush by a lake at 4400' this weekend. At 8 lbs., it was much too big to fit in my stripping basket, but I stuffed it in the bottom of my pack and it went off to the the dump with today's trash. Kind of yucky too actually....

Stonedfish · Aug 8, 2022

Wadin' Boot said:
Well I cleaned up one of those from our front yard in this last week, wasn't taking any chances on its provenance so it was handled with nitriles. So this is not just a saltwater creature. I also picked up a foil wrapper near this thing, I believe it may live in the foil wrapper before emerging. Finally I picked up a lot of empty taco bell refuse, including disposable bowls.

Lawn squid are a real thing.

SF

Cabezon · Aug 8, 2022

BriGuy said:
Ordinarily, I would wait for @Cabezon to weigh in and provide a truly educated and accurate identification, however, I am willing to accept this thread's assertion that the creature:

Is some type of squid,

Uses the Bernoulli effect to propel itself through the water using the cone-shaped nozzle at its tail,

Is entirely unsuitable for any type of calamari,

And is likely native to, or originates from, New Jersey.

I think I'm good with that. No need to bother @Cabezon.

There is a species of red algae, Halosaccion glandiforma, in the rocky intertidal of the Salish Sea known as the sea condom (or sea sacs or dead man's fingers). [They certainly do not look red, but they are a type of red alga.]

The inside of the "sea condom" is filled with sea water (sometimes with an oxygen bubble at the tip). The water helps limit desiccation at low tide as evaporation keeps the temperature down. The gas bubble keeps the alga off the rock surface at high tide. You wouldn't want to use it as a condom however as it has several small holes that allow water in and out.
Steve

Jake Watrous · Aug 8, 2022

Phil K said:
Well yuck, now I've lost my appetite.

Back to our regularly scheduled program! Technically, this doesn't count; I found it stashed under a bush by a lake at 4400' this weekend. At 8 lbs., it was much too big to fit in my stripping basket, but I stuffed it in the bottom of my pack and it went off to the the dump with today's trash. Kind of yucky too actually....View attachment 26834

That’s the biggest prophylactic I’ve ever seen.

Wadin' Boot · Aug 8, 2022

Cabezon said:
The inside of the "sea condom" is filled with sea water (sometimes with an oxygen bubble at the tip). The water helps limit desiccation at low tide as evaporation keeps the temperature down. The gas bubble keeps the alga off the rock surface at high tide. You wouldn't want to use it as a condom however as it has several small holes that allow water in and out.

Pretty sure I am going to copy the entire block of Cabezon's text above into Stonedfishe's Beachy Romance thread. Cabezon's work is probably the EE Cumings of tidal romance, it's just the love of the sea in written form. And it's that love that forms an unbreakable bond between Stonefish and the Perfumed Swimmer. To avoid cries of plagiarism from the literary purists like Dimebright, I'm thinking- in the movie adaptation- of basically ripping off Hannah and Her Sisters, with Stonefish suggesting his perfumed swimmer read the Salt Pages, and later when she comes across this Cabezon passage, reading alone, pining for SF in her drab bedroom filled with swimming caps and drying one-pieces, reading it aloud, but hafting to take a few breaths where others would not, fanning herself with one free hand... well, you know how glorious its gonna get in later scenes.

If you aren't a michael Caine fan (Boot shakes head) just drag the slider to 0.50 to get the reference

Man if we could get young Michael Caine to play Stonedfish in the movie adaptation, and Sandra Bullock playing the swimmer, I mean that's gold right there. Maybe Michael Caine's just too old, but not old for voiceovers.....

Matt B · Aug 8, 2022

And the forum has its first Woody Allen reference, ladies and gents!

DimeBrite · Aug 9, 2022

TS Eliot was inspired by the sight of a lawn squid washed up onto the beach.

copperJon · Aug 11, 2022

Must have got stuck on the low tide...and must have been a good feast, because there were three of them in a small pool. This is the largest, which was maybe 15 inches.No signs of foul play.

wanderingrichard · Aug 11, 2022

Starting to wonder if, for the love of all that's good, that we Google to mark off the Schlong Beach and associated tide pool areas as Nature Reserves for ESA species...

Jake Watrous · Aug 11, 2022

wanderingrichard said:
Starting to wonder if, for the love of all that's good, that we Google to mark off the Schlong Beach and associated tide pool areas as Nature Reserves for ESA species...

That's the one by Bush Point?

Or was it Chuckanut?

Northern · Aug 20, 2022

Blue coral on a PS beach? Is this a thing, or did it likely come from somebody's aquarium?

Mark Melton · Aug 20, 2022

Not likely it's native, although it could have washed up from somewhere. Here are a couple of sites, one on common species of coral found in Puget Sound, and one on blue coral.

Coral Species Index