The Ocean's Question

What is it?
We did not have an answer.

[Babs]

How strange, maybe some kind of seaweed.

[Kathy]

Google lens says it could be the egg case for a lightning whelk. I think I too have seen things like this on the beach in the past.

[Dawn]

Certainly so different to anything I’ve seen so interesting

[Maggiemae]

I think Kathy is right! Whelks lay their eggs in a long, spiral-shaped casing that can reach up to 33 inches in length. The strand contains up to 200 small pouches, and each pouch contains up to 99 eggs.

The female protects the string of eggs by anchoring one end at the bottom of the ocean. @randystreat

[Beryl Lloyd]

Interesting find

[Diana]

What an amazing find and shot! Interesting to read what it is, fortunately someone always seems to be able to find out.

[winghong_ho]

Lovely capture.

[Rob Z]

I love this Ann - such great textures.

[Joan Robillard]

Curious

[Kathy A]

Nice textures but I don’t know what it is

[~*~ Jo ~*~]

Wonderful find

[Steve Chappell]

Nice find

[katy]

I was going to say some kind of an egg casing before I read @randystreat @maggiemae comments. I would not have known what kind. What a terrific find and a fantastic photo of it.

[Harry J Benson]

Nice find

[Joanne Diochon]

What an interesting find.

[LManning (Laura)]

How curious!

[mittens (Marilyn)]

Interesting find. I wonder what it is, too.

[Carole Sandford]

I just asked myself the same question on looking at your shot. Interesting find though.

[Ann H. LeFevre]

@randystreat @maggiemae Thanks so much for the ID! There's always someone in the know on 365. I'm looking forward to letting the others know what it is.

@onewing @randystreat @Dawn @maggiemae @beryl @ludwigsdiana @wh2021 @robz @joansmor @kjarn @swchappell @grammyn @hjbenson @gardencat @ljmanning @mittens @carole_sandford

Thank you Babs, Kathy, Dawn, Maggie, Beryl, Diana, Winghong, Rob, Joan, Kathy, Steve, Katy, Harry, Joanne, Laura, Marilyn, and Carole!

Thanks to Kathy, Maggie, and Katy, we now know it's a whelk egg casing. Read Maggie's comment for more information- incredible!

[Dawn]

@olivetreeann so cool to find out what it is thanks to all concerned 😊

[haskar]

A very interesting find. At first I thought it was some kind of molt, but after looking closely I think it's seaweed. Too pity you didn't take more close-ups.

[Pyrrhula]

A lovely pic. ( for sure)

[Ann H. LeFevre]

@haskar It is a whelk egg-case. See Maggiemae's comment above. Thank you Hannah!

@pyrrhula Thank you Ferry!