Hi all,
Thanks to Dieter & others who found info. The placement into enteropneusts seems the only possible one, and on geography it could be Glandiceps malayanus Spengel, 1907. Judging from another photo the specimen was about 10 cm long max. Not much is known about swarming in enteropneusts (they're not usually muscle powerhouses, but obviously when there's a need there's a way). The only other eyewitness accounts to come to light so far are:
Ikeda, I. (1908). On the Swimming Habit of a Japanese Enteropneust,Glandiceps hacksii Marion. Annotationes zoologicae Japonenses 6(4): 255-257.
Spengel, J.W. (1909). Pelagisches Vorkommen von Enteropneusten. Zoologischer Anzeiger, Leipzig 34: 54-59.
Yoshimatu, S.; Nishikawa, T. (1999). Swimming swarms of a usually benthic enteropneust Glandiceps sp. in the Seto Inland Sea, Japan, found in 1998. Zoological science 16 Supplement: 39. [abstract only?]
>>> On 28/11/2008 at 10:55 p.m., dfiege <Dieter.Fiege from senckenberg.de> wrote:
> that sounds interesting and it does indeed look like an enteropneust. [...]
Geoff
NIWA is the trading name of the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research Ltd.
