Caught In Great South Bay Identification...

[cm11599ps]

I was fishing in the bay by the smith point bridge. On my last cast I thought I got my lure stuck. I walked up and down the shore attempting to get it free.

Eventually the hook broke free and I was reeling it in when this was on the hook.

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[bigsink]

Cockle?

 

[quagmire]

I've snagged things that look like that many times when fishing the south shore. The ones i caught were very firm but didn't have a hard shell. They felt like a tiny inflated leather ball. If they pop before you get them off the hook, they'll squirt gross guts on you and deflate which makes them a real pita to get off the hook. Very similar to removing a pork rind from a 2oz bucktail hook. Does that fit the description?
I always thought they were a type of sea squirt. Molgula something?

 

[bigsink]

Looks like a bivalve to me.

 

[billsreef]

Looks like an upset and contracted sea cucumber

 

[cm11599ps]

Looks like an upset and contracted sea cucumber

Hmm, looks to be the right answer. I couldn't find many contracted pics on the internet but the ones I did find resembled what I caught. Thanks!