Is it part of an animal or an entire one

On a dutch forum, somebody asked what this was:

it does look like some form of tentacle, but I have no idea. Or could it be something that lost its house?

according to the photographer, it was taken in the Red Sea (Dahab). It only moved a little bit and looked like the point was attached to the sand. it looked alive but played (or was) dead once it became loose in the water.

any clues ??

Gerard

That's probably a juvenile sea pen uprooted and viewed from the backside. The enlarged area on the stalk is called the peduncle and used as an anchor. By expelling water sea pens can rapidlydeflate & pull themselves into the sand to escape predators.

that was fast ! I think you're right. I feel a bit embarrassed; It did look a bit familiar, but I did see sea pens in Scotland, but they dont occur in the Netherlands.

thanks !!

I would say it is a sea pen that has been uprooted as well! There are sites in Indonesia where there are literally fields of them. I love them, they are fantastic for finding little critters in! Next time you see these take a closer look, there are usually shrimps, crabs and alsorts of other cool critters hiding in them!