Any idea what this is ???

[blowin]

I'm not sure where to post this but think the item probably came from the sea so trust ok .

Found on riverbank . Am pretty certain that is something to do with fish --- it smells slightly that way but not strong , more like shellfish than the swimming kind .
Salmon are in that part of the river and are taken by otter / mink / heron / occasionally Shag so this could have originated in the sea and been regurgitated by something .
Freshwater mussels are also present but this is much too large to be any part of them . There are no other shellfish there as far as I am aware .
Native crayfish also live there . The "stem" of this item has the texture and almost the smell of ( cooked ) lobster or spider crab leg meat but the crays are a max of about 4" long .
The "tentacles " are a firm texture with no sign of suckers , claws or filter feeding fans , nor are they like the "dead man's fingers " ( lungs ) of crab .
It isn't Razor clam .
I have prepared fish , fowl and animals of many kinds but have never come across anything like this .

Any thoughts ?????

[knightser]

I'm not sure where to post this but think the item probably came from the sea so trust ok .

Found on riverbank . Am pretty certain that is something to do with fish --- it smells slightly that way but not strong , more like shellfish than the swimming kind .
Salmon are in that part of the river and are taken by otter / mink / heron / occasionally Shag so this could have originated in the sea and been regurgitated by something .
Freshwater mussels are also present but this is much too large to be any part of them . There are no other shellfish there as far as I am aware .
Native crayfish also live there . The "stem" of this item has the texture and almost the smell of ( cooked ) lobster or spider crab leg meat but the crays are a max of about 4" long .
The "tentacles " are a firm texture with no sign of suckers , claws or filter feeding fans , nor are they like the "dead man's fingers " ( lungs ) of crab .
It isn't Razor clam . got something like that in me curry last night
I have prepared fish , fowl and animals of many kinds but have never come across anything like this .

Any thoughts ?????

[dbrock]

no idea

[chuckaroo]

thats a good one. would like to see a few more pics of it if poss.
is/was the 'stem' tubular?
i'd guess that it is the innards of something. guess

[FisherKing]

It looks like some sort of a Polyp they have a base with a soft, tube-like body and a mouth surrounded by a ring of tentacles for catching there food

[blowin]

I only took the one pic because there didn't appear to be anything else to illustrate . ( Did you double-click on that one to enlarge it ? ) .
The stem is tubular in shape but appears to be solid rather than hollow -- no sign of guts or anything inside it .
Polyp seems like a good suggestion but I'd expect there to be a digestive tract among the tentacles . I should have dissected it when fresh but it has gone shriveled and very smelly now !
I'll let you know if anyone on another forum comes up with a definitive answer .
Cheers .

[blowin]

I left it outside in the barn where we put stuff for a feral cat and it ( the thing , not the cat ) was gone in the morning .
Should have tried it as bait .

[Creep]

I wondering if its Tube coral, with recent gales and the seas bottoms getting stirred up, more disturbing is its gone.... alien life form?? or a Triffid I'm sure one of the divers around here might know