Photographed something no one can identify? Try Reddit’s marinebiology subreddit.

I posted these images in Reddit’s marinebiology subreddit and asked the question (paraphrased), “what is this?”

Here is the best response so far:

Salps have a complex life cycle, what you are seeing is the aggregate stage, where a chain of blastozooids are connected together. This is the sexual reproduction stage. The solitary phase, known as an oozoid, and reproduces asexually – creating these long chains of blastozooids. I took a [photo](https://i.imgur.com/BMrTCH6.jpg) of an oozoid, with a chain of blastozoids still inside it.

Another commenter added:

Those are colonial salps. Each cylinder is an animal

And, for good measure, here is the Wikipedia (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salp) summary:

A salp (plural salps), salpa (plural salpae or salpas[1]), is a barrel-shaped, planktonic tunicate. It moves by contracting, thus pumping water through its gelatinous body. Salp jet propulsion is one of the most efficient in the animal kingdom.[2] The salp strains the pumped water through its internal feeding filters, feeding on phytoplankton.

For the record, I have not been a fan of Reddit. I won’t go into the reasons why I don’t like the social media platform, but I don’t.

The one exception, so far, has been the marinebiology subreddit. I had a suspicion there was something different about it, and this proves it. The responses were quick and accurate.

So, if you need help identifying a marine organism, I suggest you post photos of it in Reddit’s marinebiology subreddit.