Rockpooling report from Devon

[Andrew C]

Originally Posted by Marineboy

At first I thought this was maybe an egg mass from the lumpsucker - but it doesn't seem to be granular enough, and anyway its probably too late in the year for them to be spawning.

So I am thinking maybe a sea-squirt, or a soft coral such as "Dead-man's Fingers". Both could be found on a good low tide.
If it were a large sea-squirt, a gentle squeeze would generate a water-pistol type squirt from an exhalant siphon - they are a subphylum of chordata - having at some point in their development a dorsal nerve cord, as in the higher vertebrates. Basically they are a fleshy body cavity, with two siphons; one to draw water in, and one out. Other than that, they are not really restricted in shape. Some are large like this, and solitary.
Then it could be a soft coral colony. "Dead-man's Fingers" could be this colour, consisting of fat finger sized lobes which can feel rather rubbery. In water undisturbed it would be covered in numerous polyps.

Not sure if this helps.

Evening,

Thanks for that. This specimen and others I found were unsubstantial with a prod of a finger almost going through. It was almost jelly like.

Cheers,
Andrew.