Need ID for sea creature I ran across....

[earthduzt]

Hey all, well went to port A again, actually I was staying at Packery Channel beach. I didn't collect anything this time, but I did come across an interesting creature....sorry I don't have a pic but I will describe it as best as possible.

They are these long whip like creatures, at first I thought they were just some sort of plant, but then while watching them a little further they produced polyps. They are very long and thin, yellow to orange in color. I picked one up and then it proceeded to sting me so I quickly let it go. I saw them along the rocks and down under the water. They do not branch out, like I said they are just one continuous long strand and when the polyps are fully out the polyps seem to be in a star shape. Has anyone ever seen these? If so can anyone tell me what they are? Maybe some sort of sea whip?

Thank you in advance for any replies.....

[Mr Cob]

Sounds cool and you sound brave for picking it up!

[ballardjr2000]

Did they look like this?

http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fs earch%2Fimages%3F_adv_prop%3Dimage%26va%3Dsea%2Bwh ips%26fr%3Dyfp-t-501-s&w=600&h=450&imgurl=oceanexplorer.noaa.gov%2Fexplorations%2F05d eepcorals%2Fbackground%2Fhabitat_differences%2Fmed ia%2Fsea_whips_600.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Foceanexplorer.noaa.gov%2Fexplora tions%2F05deepcorals%2Fbackground%2Fhabitat_differ ences%2Fmedia%2Fsea_whips.html&size=82k&name=sea+whips+600+jp...&p=sea+whips&oid=d530ddd6072824f2&fr2=&no=5&tt=454&sigr=13bl6pqnd&sigi=137rksoql&sigb=12oorlhk4

[earthduzt]

yes, similar to that...but they weren't curly cued....they were exactly like that though as far as coloration and polyp extensions....are those filter feeders? They were all over yesterday underwater and around the rocks...some even were washed up on shore.

[ballardjr2000]

well those were deep water sea whips i just did a search for sea whips and found that. from what i read yeah filter feeders on small stuff.

[earthduzt]

thanks Ballard, at least I have a starting point.....so I wonder if these would be safe in a tank or you think they might sting other things (corals, fish, etc) they are very pretty anyhow.

[ballardjr2000]

some more info, more than likely sting other corals

Sea Whip
(Muricea muricata)
The sea whip is a coral species that grows in clusters of long finger or whip-like shapes. They are usually pale tan or yellow in color, and are found throughout the tropical coral reefs of the Caribbean and the West Indies. The whips are covered with thousands of tiny anemone-like coral polyps, which filter nutrients from the water.

[Squiers007]

They were more than likely from the Genus Leptogorgia, and are commonly called yellow sea whips. We dont have any Muricea around the Jetties but there are two different species of Leptogorgia. The one that doesn not branch and is a single long strand is L. setecea and the branching type which you can only find deeper on the Port A jetties and sometimes washed up is L. virgulata. I am somewhat surprised that it stung you though. I have handled these a ton of times and have never been stung. My fiance is doing her Masters thesis research on them as potential habitat for juvenile fish. They are fairly hard to keep in an aquarium since they are non-photosynthetic and require constant feeding. Hope this helps. If you google leptogorgia the majority of the pictures are of the branching type but they look almost identical minus the branches.

[earthduzt]

very good, thank you so much....I handled one it was a fairly large one, and all of a sudden I felt this stinging sensation in my finger so I assume it was the polyp...and yes the polyps do look like mini aptasia type anemones...thanks you all for all the info

[Squiers007]

So I spoke with my fiance again and she said that the coral itself cannot sting you and that you probably just got stung by a loose jellyfish tentacle, they lose them all the time.

[R.Allard]

fwiw...from what i have been told the whips end up on our beaches from the oil rigs being cleaned