#salp

Day 8: Glow @montereybayaquarium

clear/jelly things in nature pngs request ⋆˙⟡♡

For the salp, sex is less of an immutable part of their biology and more like a hot potato. In their aggregate stage, these invertebrates attach together in chains. When an female chain has been fertilized by a male chain, each member will give birth an asexual offspring called an oozooid, which can later release tens of thousands of young which will grow up to aggregate together again. In the meantime, after giving birth the original fertilized aggregate salp becomes male, and will seek out a female to mate with.

Salps are gelatinous animals that live in the open ocean, but are closely related to the "sea squirts" (tunicates) seen in tidepools. Colonial salps often form long chains, with new animals budding off from others in the chain. They can reach up to 15m long and are one of the fastest-growing animals on the planet. Salps rhythmically contract their bodies to propel themselves through the ocean and pump water through their guts, filtering out microscopic algae and other tiny organisms for food. They play an essential role in mitigating climate change as their fecal pellets are full of carbon and sink rapidly to the sea floor, sequestering that carbon for decades or even centuries to come.