You see a crowd of gulls fighting over an object on the wet sand at the ocean's edge. You investigate. The....

Question

object is a vase-shaped, pink blob about as round as a dinner plate. How will you decide if it is a living thing?

Answer 1

I would say the seagulls fighting over it would make it at least alive not too long before the gulls got to it.
Putting it in water from the ocean ..most likely would be the way to tell if it was still alive . It sounds very much like what is called a jellyfish......very much!!....and they can have a bad bad sting ...so if you see one dont try to pick it up ...and that goes for swimming too ..if you see them get out of the water ..they can be dangerous. GOOD LUCK SWIMMING!!..stay safe!! HAVE FUN!!

Peace

Answer 2

To test if it is still alive: try placing it in a bucket of sea water. It should respond.

To test if it is a dead life-form (it did not respond to the sea water), I would try the following:

First take photographs right where it is. A college biology department might be able to recognize it.

(1) Examine it with a magnifying glass, looking for identifiable structures.

(2) Make thin cuts or smears of the pink blob on microscope slides. Test one of these with Ninhydrin (which reacts with proteins). Treat the other smears with standard stains, like Wright's stain or Bromthymol blue, and investigate under a microscope. If you do not have these materials, visit a high school or college science department or microbiology department.

(3) Mush or otherwise get some fluid out of the pink blob. Use the liquid to determine if glucose is present (a diabetics test strips or glucometer or a hospital clinical lab).

Answer 3

I don't mean to sound cruel, but hypothetically you could cook it. It should open if alive. If dead you could break it open now may be easier and see whats inside.