#seaworm #deepseacreatures #weirdestanimal
Pyrosomes are free-floating colonial tunicates that usually live in the upper layers of the open ocean in warm seas, although some may be found at greater depths. They are cylindrical or cone-shaped colonies that made up of hundreds to thousands of individuals, known as zooids.
Each individual zooid pulls water from the outside to its microscopic plankton filtration station, once that water is filtered the zooid expels the water into the inside of the cylinder body. The volume of water being filtered by each individual zooid gives the colony propulsion mobility. These colonies range in size from less than one centimeter to several meters in length.
The whole colony is shaped like a giant thimble with a point on one end and an opening on the other, and in some species this opening can be up to 6 feet wide, large enough to fit a full grown human inside. The giant Pyrosomes can grow to be up to 60 feet long.