Pyura chilensis: The "Living Rock"

Pyura chilensis is a tunicate that somewhat resembles a mass of organs inside a rock. It is often found in dense aggregations in the intertidal and subtidal coast of Chile and Peru. It is a filter feeder that eats by sucking in seawater and filtering out microorganisms. P. chilensis has some basic characteristics common to chordates, such as the notochord and a perforated pharynx. It is born male, becomes hermaphroditic at puberty, and reproduces by tossing clouds of sperm and eggs into the surrounding water. If it is alone, it will procreate by self-fertilization.

Its blood is clear and can contain high concentrations of vanadium, which may be ten million times that found in surrounding seawater; although the source and function of this element's concentrations are unknown.

The earliest mention of the "P. chilensis" was in 1782 by Juan Ignacio Molina in his book "Saggio Sulla Storia Naturale del Chili." Molina, a Chilean abbott who was shunned from Chile along with the rest of the Jesuit missionaries, wrote this book to describe the life lived by the Chileans in the Chiloe Archipelago. He briefly describes the natives for their fondness of fishing and that the Piure was another form of sustenance for the people.

 

Inside the living rock is a mass of organs surrounded by a layer of skin and muscle. It is called a filter feeder because it inhales seawater, removes and feeds on the algae and microorganisms in the water, before exhaling the filtered water back into the sea.

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