- Sauerkraut Bryozoa (plural: Bryozoan), also called Spaghetti Bryozoan is washing up on our Coastal Beaches
- Jace Tunnell with the Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi says that it's normal to happen at this time of year.
- Fishermen and surfers say it's an inconvenience getting stuck in their fishing lines and surfing leashes.
If you've visited the beaches of the Coastal Bend lately, you may have noticed some clear, spaghetti-looking, jelly-feeling, substance that you may have thought was some kind of seaweed or sea grass. It's called Sauerkraut Bryozoa and it's actually an animal.
"It looks just like algae or seaweed, as people call it, but it;s actually an invertebrate. And so that's what people are pulling up," Jace Tunnell, Director of Community Engagement at the Harte Research Institute said.
While it is an animal, when it washes up it is usually dead, which may cause an unpleasant odor on the beach. Jace Tunnell says this is normal for this time of year.
"There's a number of different factors of why the Bryozoan comes up in the quantities it does at certain times of the year. It could be water temperature. It could be the rainfall we’ve had recently, to where it just blooms," Tunnell said.
While it's not harmful to humans, some say it can definitely get in the way of their beach activities, such as fishing and surfing.
“Like I said, you just have to pull it out , undo it all, just try again. All you can do. Or you can pack up and go home, but I’m not gonna do that," Harold Oliver, a fisherman visiting from Mason, Texas, said.
Tunnell said that the Harte Research Institute has been hearing the same kind of comments and concerns.
"It's not harmful. It's just very annoying. And so if you're out in the water, you'll feel stuff brushing up against your leg," Tunnell said. "You know if you're fishing, of course it gets caught up in your fishing line. For surfers, it gets caught up in their leash, and so you know, they have to get that off of their off of their leash to be able to move forward. But other than that, other than it being annoying, there's no harm to humans."
While there's no harm to humans from it, Tunnell also says that even though it's named after a condiment people put on hot dogs, do not eat it.
“This Bryozoan doesn’t harm people, it doesn’t sting. You know, I wouldn’t try to eat it like sauerkraut or anything like that, but other than that, it’s not harmful. It’s just very annoying.”
Many people are not aware that Sauerkraut Bryozoa is indeed, an animal.
“When you take it off your line and your hook, you can feel it’s soft, you can feel it’s soft, not like a seagrass. But I never knew it was like an animal," Oliver said.
Tunnell says that the good news is that beachgoers should only be seeing the Sauerkraut Bryozoan wash ashore for a couple more weeks.
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