Changing Times: Pyrosome "Explosion" off of the West Coast is Unprecedented and Unexplained

From one...

..come many.

Colonizing the waters of the world.
In a little noticed article written by northwest environmental reporter Chris Dunagan and published in the Kitsap Sun in July of 2016, he described the little known pyrosome. Consisting of colonies of zooids, Pyrosome are able to clone themselves and to create giant tube like structures, some as large as that seen in the image above. Typically found in the tropics, they have until now simply been interesting but little seen and little heard about in the northwest. Until now.

Those aren't worms

being used for bait.

More than flowers blooming in the northwest.
Both National Geographic and Northwest Sportsman have written, on June 13th and 14th respectively, of a massive bloom and increase in pyrosomes now occurring off of the west coast and as far north as southeast Alaska. The Northwest Sportsman writes that "...this spring [it] appear to be everywhere off the Oregon Coast to the point they are clogging fishing gear by the thousands." NOAA's research biologist Rick Brodeur is quoted in the National Geographic article as saying, "It's just unbelievable how many of them there are."

Climates change and so do we.
The National Geographic article notes, "In 2014 and 2015, when a warm water blob temporarily transformed the eastern Pacific, animals of all stripes appeared where they didn't belong. Warm-water sharks and tunas were caught in Alaska. Tropical sea snakes appeared off California. The longest and most toxic bloom of algae ever recorded poisoned crab, anchovies, and seals and sea lions. And a handful of pyrosomes began washing ashore." As the waters cooled in 2016, species present returned to their historical locations - except pyrosome. They remained and for reasons unknown began to multiply. Currently, nobody seems to know why. As biologist Laurie Weitkampt with the Northwest Fisheries Science Center is quoted as saying:

"For something that's never really been here before, the densities are just mind-boggling. We're just scratching our heads."

What do they eat - and what eats them?
Currently the impact of the sudden increase - both on what they eat and on what eats them - is not known. The Northwest Fisheries Science Center simply says:

"Some bony fish, dolphins and whales are known to eat pyrosomes, but scientists know little about their role in the offshore ecosystem or how they may affect the food web in areas where they are now appearing in such high densities."

Times are changing and so is the ocean. 
Get involved and become aware of what's happening to our marine ecosystems. Whether along the entire coast or within Puget Sound, things are changing.