NOT-SO-BEAUTIFUL
SEA PORK
Among the sea creatures found on Tybee that I get asked about often is Sea Pork. Every
specimen is different looking, a different shape and size, and often even a different color. But
almost always, it is described as gross! Nobody has ever told me that they think Sea Pork is
among the most beautiful sea creatures they’ve ever seen!
Chunks of Sea Pork on Tybee will be lying in the sand where they settled after being washed
ashore from deeper water offshore. It grows attached to hard bottoms and reefs; but occasionally
pieces will get broken off and eventually wash ashore.
Every chunk of Sea Pork looks different because it is actually a colony of many small individual
animals living together. In the case of Sea Pork, the many small individual animals are tiny
Sea Squirts or Tunicates. A single, small Tunicate will grow, pinch off a piece of itself, and that
piece will grow into another individual. This process of asexual reproduction, called budding, will
continue over and over, resulting in a growing clump composed of many small individuals. Sea
Pork is a good example of a colony forming animal, which is a growth strategy used by many
otherwise small individuals.
There are actually a few different species of colonial clump-like Tunicates that grow into Sea
Pork chunks. As a result, you might find clumps of different colors. I’ve seen Sea Pork clumps of
blue, green, purple, pink, orange, red, and most commonly, beige. No matter what the color, the
shape and size of every clump will be different, and usually described as grotesque or gross!
The name “Sea Pork” comes from its tough, rubbery-like texture and feel. Supposedly
26 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | OCT 2018
someone thought that it felt like salt pork or fatback and gave it the name Sea Pork. It’s not really
slimy or slippery, but rather just feels like wet plastic.
Although Sea Pork is interesting itself, it is certainly not one of the most exciting offshore
animals we find washed up. But what can be a bit more exciting are the variety of small animals
that might be hiding within the folds and crevices of a clump. When we find a nice chunk during
a beach ecology trip, we will put it in our beach touch tank to see what might come crawling out
of it in a few minutes. It’s not unusual to see small brittle stars, crabs, and shrimp-like animals
that live in the deeper offshore waters and that we don’t usually see along the beach.
So the next time you see one of those gross-looking chunks of Sea Pork washed up, take a
minute to look at it closely. You can probably see the tiny compartments that are the individual
Tunicates. And if it has some deep folds or depressions, check down inside them to see if there
might be some small, more interesting animals hiding in there where they make that chunk of
Sea Pork their protective home.
Dr. Joe Richardson (Ph.D. Marine Sciences) is a retired marine science professor with 40 years
of research and teaching experience along GA, the southeastern coast and Bahamas. Besides
research, he conducts Tybee Beach Ecology Trips (www.TybeeBeachEcology.com) and frequently
posts pictures of their findings on his Tybee Beach Ecology Trips Facebook page.
Beach Walks
with Dr. Joe
By Dr. Joe Richardson
/(www.TybeeBeachEcology.com)