What am I - The Answer

Yesterday I post this image, asking if the community knew what this creature was.

I had a few good guesses but now its time to reveal what it is.

An Orange Sea Pen, Ptilosarcus gurneyi

Orange sea pens can grow up to half a metre and looks a large fluffy bird plume in an ink pot. They can range in colour from dark orange to yellow or white. Instead of a single animal, it is a colony of polyps arranged into thick fleshy branches; these branches attach to the stalk, which is the primary polyp. This polyp has lost its tentacles, and provides structure and support with an internal calcareous rod (its "skeleton") and thickened bulb-like base, most of which is buried in the sediment.

These animals have the amazing ability to contract and expand by expelling or taking on water; the feather-like structure may become unrecognizable when the colony contracts down below the sediment, as it can bury nearly its entire length if sufficiently threatened.

The orange sea pen anchors its bulbous base into sandy or muddy sea floors from the shallow subtidal to 135 m deep. This species can form beds, which may be as dense as 20 pens per square metre. Its range extends from the Gulf of Alaska to southern California.

Thanks for reading.

Scott

For more stories and images - http://www.scottstevensonphotography.ca/