View Full Version : Sucker
Yogi Diver
28-05-08, 14:26
Saw lots of these weird beasts in Mauritius. The locals call them suckers.
About 1.5" - 2" Diameter and at least 3 metres long. I'd never seen anything like these in the past.
Anyone know what they are?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rko9kA0THs
Yogi Diver
28-05-08, 14:33
Meant to include a couple of still shots also.
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn73/Yogibuzzard/Mauritius/2008_0522AnemoneGarden0103.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn73/Yogibuzzard/Mauritius/2008_0522AnemoneGarden0099.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn73/Yogibuzzard/Mauritius/2008_0522AnemoneGarden0105.jpg
CREEPY - that's what they are :eek::eek:
To start I can confirm I have no idea what it is!
Are they anchored to anything or does the whole thing move around or simply the head?
Yogi Diver
28-05-08, 14:41
To start I can confirm I have no idea what it is!
Are they anchored to anything or does the whole thing move around or simply the head?
I never saw the tail, it always seemed to end up under a rock so could well be anchored? However, teh skipper of a boat we went out on tried to lift one out the water with a pole and had both ends out of the water before it slipped off. May have snapped though? It stretched as he lifted it to several metres long and went extremely skinny.
The first few I saw the heads were also under rocks so all I saw were bodies wrapped around rocks looking like some weird eels or snakes. It was towards the end of the dive that I saw the feeding examples. Scared the crap out of me!!:eek: Like something out of Alien!
Nice !
Some crackin pics there Yog :O)
what an odd thing! It's certainly big whatever else it is... I can't tell if it's symmetrical - I was thinking it's maybe some kind of weird sea cucumber (holothuria, relative of the starfish) if it's got 5-way symmetry, but that's just a guess really.
Zan
If all else fails I'll ask my buddy who was working over there as a reef diver.
She's bound to know ( famous last words ) !
Yogi Diver
29-05-08, 17:05
I think I've found it. It is a type of Sea Cucumber, Sypnaptis maculata
it is a cucumber Euapta godeffroyi thought id google it. lol
kyle
http://www.starfish.ch/Fotos/echinoderms-Stachelhauter/seacucumbers-Seewalzen/Euapta-godeffroyi1.jpg
Yogi Diver
30-05-08, 08:09
it is a cucumber Euapta godeffroyi thought id google it. lol
kyle
I think you are right Sandman, but I found this by Googling too?
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn73/Yogibuzzard/Sypnaptismaculata.gif
Sypnaptis maculata
However, Googling your guess produces far more hits and clearer photos so I am going to go along with Euapta godeffroyi .
Seems to be a far more common species seen in corals in Hawai, Indonesia and the Red Sea as well as the Indian Ocean so I am surprised this is the first time I have ever come across it. It was very prolific off the Southwest coast of Mauritius.
Thanks