Football Sea Squirt

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Another rainy day on Loch Torridon, but some more lovely diving.

These round balls of tubes are Football Sea Squirts. Believe it or not, these are quite closely related to the birds and mammals we are used to, and in their larval stage they even have a primitive precursor to a spinal chord. In this adult phase they lose their more advanced features and cling to a rock pumping water through their bodies to extract food particles.

Around them the rocks are covered in all sorts of other encrusting life includeing sea pens and sea fans.