Image

Bubbly ‘fire bodies’

Looking like a collection of bubbles, this pyrosome (the name means “fire body”) is a cylindrical colony, 7 centimeters (2.75 inch) long, made up of individual animals (the “bubbles”.) Each tiny individual animal pumps water through its body, filtering out food and propelling the brightly luminescent colony forward. Researchers found this pyrosome in the Celebes Sea, on a 2006 cruise to explore the deep basins of this sea, in the Philippines. (Photo by Larry Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)