P.S. In the 1970s, one of the old “men’s adventure magazines,” either Argosy or True, carried photos of one these with the claim it was 60 feet long.

My guess is there is something special about the currents this year, or past conditions that resulted in more animals (like more food last year, for example). Pyrosomes live in the pelagic zone, though I’m not sure what their distribution is in the water column within and between locations. I’m hypothesizing they’re moving laterally due to differences in current, rather than vertically.

I’m not an earthquake expert, but they usually occur at places where the plates are colliding, and the Azores is located in an area where plates are spreading apart.

these animals are arriving because the earthquake that been predict is about to cause a great disturbance on sea floor level,

That seems very possible! In your experience what time of year do you usually see them?

Thanks Natália, this is great info!

You can see some photos that I took on our facebook page (https://goo.gl/j9dpJF)

Hope this information will help with your research

Best regards,
Natália

In São Miguel. I think that what happens is sometimes they show up earlier in the year when people aren’t diving as often…

Interesting Nélio! Where are you located? I’ve been hearing both–some people are seeing about the same number as years past but others are seeing way more than usual. I’m wondering if there are spots with more animals each year and spots where they are uncommon.