Sea Sacs (Halosaccion glandiforme)

Description: Sea sacs, also known as dead man’s fingers, are up to 30 cm long, finger-shaped sacs. They’re often filled with water and a small amount of air at the tip. Each sea sac has 5-15 pores on the end. If compressed, streams of water will squirt out the pores.

Habitat: Sea sacs prefer to grow on rocks but may also grow on other algae. They can be seen from the high to the low intertidal zones and range from the Bering Sea around Alaska and Russia down to California.

Tide Pool Tidbits:

• They may not look like much but they are eaten both raw and in soups and have a high caloric value.

• The color of the individuals often differs by the amount of sunlight they are growing in. They are more yellow-brown when growing in the sunshine and darker red-purple when growing in the shade.

References: The New Beachcomber’s Guide to the Pacific Northwest by J Duane Sept, UW Friday Harbor Laboratories