Geoff
These look very much like tubes of the macrofaunal sized foraminiferan Bathysiphon spp.
Back in the early 1990s Jim Blake and I lead a study of benthic communities off the coast of North Carolina between depths of 600 to 2000 m.
We found high densities of Bathysiphon filiformis with tubes that look identical to the ones in your picture. Our findings were published in Deep-Sea Research Part II, Vol. 41, No. 4-6, 1994.
Bob
On Sep 10, 2014, at 2:29 AM, Geoff Read <Geoffrey.Read from niwa.co.nz> wrote:
> Hi all,
>> Attached is a video frame grab of a field of tubes in situ from about 1000 m in Cook Strait. There's quite a strong current going past right to left but the tubes don't flex at all. The visible tube lengths would be about 150 mm. No tentacles to be seen. I was thinking Polychaeta, perhaps a large chaetopterid. Other suggestions welcome.
>> Cheers,
>> Geoff
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