Kelp might get galls, but they wouldn't look like that. For one thing, they'd be growing out of the kelp, and these are independent. The big ones get bits of seaweed stuck in their crevices, but they don't develop the crevices unless they're big. If you look at the outside surface and the cut surface, you can see that it's formed of many sort of cone-shaped (oblong in cross-section) structures that rasdiate from the light-colored gelatinous-looking center. It's not especially gelatinous to the touch, though: it's quite firm, not as hard as a good carrot, but firm like a potato or an apple.
I would not have cut it if I didn't think it was dead. It didn't move. It doesn't look capable of moving: it doean't seem to have any moving parts, and it doesn't look like it's capable of flapping. I had to convince myself the first one was not a rock, actually.
I'm thinking something related to a sponge, maybe. But for a sponge, it's very dense. Well. Maybe that's the wrong word, or maybe I should emphasize that it's only relatively dense, because it's not especially heavy for its size.
I've been hanging out on California beaches off and on most of my life, and spending a fair amount of time on Its beach the last few years, and I've never seen anything like it. Have I seen something like it in the Monterey Bay Aquarium? Is that what's teasing my brain?
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timeasmymeasure
Re: It looks
I would not have cut it if I didn't think it was dead. It didn't move. It doesn't look capable of moving: it doean't seem to have any moving parts, and it doesn't look like it's capable of flapping. I had to convince myself the first one was not a rock, actually.
I'm thinking something related to a sponge, maybe. But for a sponge, it's very dense. Well. Maybe that's the wrong word, or maybe I should emphasize that it's only relatively dense, because it's not especially heavy for its size.
I've been hanging out on California beaches off and on most of my life, and spending a fair amount of time on Its beach the last few years, and I've never seen anything like it. Have I seen something like it in the Monterey Bay Aquarium? Is that what's teasing my brain?