Underwater Plunger

[seabat]

A friend at work was walking along the shore near Tacoma during low tide and said he seen a multitude of objects on the sand that looked like the rubber end of a toilet plunger and was wondering what they were.

He said that he picked one up and it was nothing more than somewhat hardened sand with a hole where the handle of the plunger would be. No marine life was in the object.

I recall seeing something like this on the bottom but cant remember where and I am unable to come up with a suitable description for a web search.

Any ideas (and pictures)?

 

[kalvyn]

A friend at work was walking along the shore near Tacoma during low tide and said he seen a multitude of objects on the sand that looked like the rubber end of a toilet plunger and was wondering what they were.

He said that he picked one up and it was nothing more than somewhat hardened sand with a hole where the handle of the plunger would be. No marine life was in the object.

I recall seeing something like this on the bottom but cant remember where and I am unable to come up with a suitable description for a web search.

Any ideas (and pictures)?

Those were Moon Snail eggs, if they looked like this:

http://www.gotosnapshot.com/Moon_Snail/catalogdata/18.html

Jimmie

 

[pipedope]

Learn something new every day!

thanks

 

[seabat]

Thanks Kalvyn.

My friend can now sleep at night and thinks I am a dive god. I'll let him think the dive god part for another few days and then let him down easy with the truth!

 

[diver_paula]

New for me, too. Thank for the info and picture.

Paula

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

The eggs are actually encased in sand ... so most of what you're seeing is, in fact, just sand. About a month ago my buddies and I watched a moon snail "building" one of those casings. It was a fascinating way to do a 10-minute safety stop at the end of a reasonably aggressive dive profile.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)