Dangling Salp

Salp pendulous. A sticky, suspension-feeding predator that captures organisms from the current.

1. Salp-like biology Like Earth's salps, this is a colony of zooids — tiny, cloned animals (in this case tunicates) — that form a long, tube-like pump. The salp draws in water to filter for plankton.

2. Hard holdfast The holdfast that anchors the feeding string is secreted by the same zooids that make up the rest of the organism. Spectrogenetic analysis detects proteins similar to those expressed by reefbuilding sponges and corals.

3. Bloom response Terrestrial salps can reproduce very quickly, allowing them to grow with—and devour—sudden blooms of algae. If the algae bloom is too dense, the salps may clog.

Assessment: may be a useful indicator of ecological stress. Await further updates.