I have a friend, a marine biol­o­gist, who haunts the beach­es, salt-water marsh­es, and tide pools of the New Eng­land shore col­lect­ing the gifts of the sea. Now and then she will find some­thing spe­cial that she shares with me. This past week­end she pre­sent­ed me with one of the biggest and finest sea squirts she had ever found washed ashore.