Do you know what this is? One of our distant cousins

An eagle-eyed walker found this little critter on the sand at Silverleaves last week.

The Advertiser asked local nature educator Mike Cleeland what the 4cm tadpole-like creature was and he said he believed it was a stalked ascidian, or a sea squirt.

“It’s quite interesting and unusual,” Mike said.

“The groovy thing about these critters is their larval form has a dorsal nerve cord, just like us humans and the rest of the vertebrates.

“All other invertebrates such as slugs, snails and insects have a ventral main nerve cord, running along their belly.

“So the ascidians are not exactly our cousins, but they are more closely related to us than any of the other invertebrates.”

Mike said the ascidian is native to Australia and is a filter-feeding animal that anchors themselves in sediment on or near reefs to eat plankton or particles.

“Trust me, I had to pass exams on this in 1977,” he added.