Pyrosoma atlanticum
Distribution:
Between 50°N and 50°S in all oceans.
Habitat:
Undergo diel vertical migrations from surface waters to 750 m depth.
Size:
To 600 mm
Diet:
Plankton (centric diatoms, silico-flagellates and even fragments of small crustaceans, coccolithophores).
Predators:
Demersal fish.
Useful Facts or Characters:
A colony with tough consistency and cylindrical in shape; one end open and one end closed. It narrows toward the closed end and can be pink or yellowish pink in color.
Natural History:
Pyrosomes are hollow tubular colonies of individual zooids that reside next to one another in a common tunic and result from asexual reproduction. Pyrosomes often produce light (bioluminescence) and are capable of forming dense aggregations.