Name That Snot Bubble

In the January issue of Latitude, we ran a sneaky little quiz in Sightings. The only mention of it was in the caption for this photo that ran on pages 78-79 in conjunction with a story on a bottom paint study. "The first reader who can correctly identify this slimy, squishy glob that was dangling from our depth sounder wins a Latitude hat," read the caption.

Alameda’s Gary Henry was the first to respond — on January 2! — identifying the snot bubble as a tunicate. Hot on his heels was Alice Watts, First Mate of Alma, who also claimed the goo was a tunicate. Their answers were confirmed by Sarah Cohen and Brita Larsson, students of San Francisco State’s Romberg Tiburon Laboratory: "It’s a solitary tunicate (Styela sp.) covered with a colonial tunicate (Botryllus sp.)." Thanks to everyone who played!