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Photographed off the Western coast of India, Goa, to be precise. Not even sure this is a creature since I've never seen anything like it. It appeared to move by shooting tiny jets of water from its tentacle like thingies. It looks a bit like a jellyfish but without the typical shape expected.

Update: No larger animals around, but there were people fishing. Just off the water's edge. Also, no, I don't actually frequent the place so I can't be sure it's not part of the native fauna. Size: Perhaps two adult hand spans long.

the sea creature

Charlie Brumbaugh
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Neodymia
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  • How big? It's really hard for us to understand what we're looking at. – Olin Lathrop Jan 09 '17 at 13:01
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    Average adult handspan isn't really a good figure - women and mens hand averages differ and there is no real good info for that - so maybe, what 40cm? 50cm? – Aravona Jan 10 '17 at 12:20
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    I think giving adult hand spans are a good figure for estimating size, we all have them, and while they vary a bit, Hands are a recognized unit of measure – James Jenkins Jan 10 '17 at 13:15
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    I am unable to view your picture, but it sounds like a salp. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salp. If so, please reply and I'll make it an answer. – cobaltduck Jan 10 '17 at 14:32
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    I dont think its a salp. Going by images on Google they appear to have this translucence that the creature certainly didnt have. This is actually a screenshot from a video: hence the poor quality. Is there any way to upload a video here? – Neodymia Jan 10 '17 at 15:51
  • The tentacles (well, the whole thing appears to be a mass of intertwined tentacles) also appeared to have this tubular quality--not sure if this is apparent from the pic. – Neodymia Jan 10 '17 at 15:53
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    If someone has time, you can search through species-identification.org. They have a nice list of marine species to go through. – B540Glenn Jan 10 '17 at 16:56
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    Are you sure it was propelling itself? And not just being pushed around by currents and bubbles? Otherwise I would suspect it is an egg mass by something like a sea slug. – wallyk Apr 26 '17 at 18:47
  • I would suggest posting the image and associated date and location to inaturalist.org as an observation in order to have a better chance at getting an identification. – Simon Kingston Jun 29 '17 at 15:20
  • When I was in Florida snorkeling i accidentally hit some jellyfish this looks similar to the result but only bigger. – JIMMYPlay Jul 03 '18 at 16:29
  • I had followed up @SimonKingston's suggestion and posted it on inaturalist.org. Someone identified it as a Portuguese Man o War, but it doesn't seem to have the bluish tinge or the body. – Neodymia Jul 23 '18 at 07:35
  • looks like some kind of sea slug to me – Jonathan E. Landrum Jul 01 '19 at 19:55

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It is very hard to tell from the poor photo, but I suspect that it is a member of the Tunicates, a class of marine animals that includes things like sea-squirts.

More specifically I would guess that it is a member of the Pyrosomes, which are more commonly found in warm waters, such as are found off Goa. Pyrosomes are actually colonial organisms composed of large number of individual pyrosomes living as a free-floating colony. They resemble a tube and can move by jetting water out of the tube through co-ordinated beating of cilia from members of the colony.

It could also be a Salp, which are similar to pyrosomes, but I think more commonly seen in non-tropical waters.

bob1
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