Talk:Sea balls

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Real vs. non-real

Real vs. non-real seems to be a very poor way to name the different types of sea balls. This is a translation from German; is there another possible gloss of the German word that wouldn't carrry the implication that "non-real" sea balls are imaginary? Are there any English sources that provide names for the different kinds of sea balls (Ganong doesn't provide names)? Absent a different translation from German, or any terms of English origin, I think we could just remove the "real"/"no-real" terms while maintaining a distinction between the types. Plantdrew (talk) 18:15, 16 August 2026 (UTC)

How about "organic" and "inorganic"? (This isn't from a source, but it makes a plausible translation.) --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 19:57, 16 August 2026 (UTC)

GA review

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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This review is transcluded from Talk:Sea balls/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Nominator: Not-cheesewhisk3rs (talk · contribs) 15:31, 15 August 2026 (UTC)

Reviewer: Wikipedian12512 (talk · contribs) 14:14, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

I’ll probably have reduced activity during the weekday. I’ll be able to complete the review, I think, but I’ll be slower answering questions before about 4. Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 21:17, 21 September 2026 (UTC)

No worries. Take your time. --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 06:57, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for your patience! Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 11:13, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

Hiya! I’ll review this guy! Looks like an interesting read! Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 14:14, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

Starting with names:

Is the bolding necessary? I thought that the bolding is only for the lede. It’ll be fine if you want to keep them there, but I feel it draws too much unwanted attention to the citations (it could be worse, if I did it to Malta#Etymology, it would be an unmitigated disaster :)). Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 14:32, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

I added that bolding to try to follow MOS:BOLDREDIRECT. I've removed it to be less distracting. --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 16:50, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

“Sea balls formed in the Mediterranean Sea have a variety of names”- this makes it sound like all the following names are referring to Mediterranean ones, but still could be clearer one way or another. Could you specify? Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 14:32, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

Yes, you're correct. I thought the paragraphing made this clear, and I'm not sure how to make it clearer. --ncw

Good point, also stumped.

Why is “wild goat” part of aegagropilae? (Also, that part of one of the names means “wild goat” would make an awesome DYK.) Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 14:32, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

Aha! It’s named this because it looks like what a goat regurgitates! Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 01:52, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

Well spotted - I've added this. --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 07:51, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

Probably because the balls look like they're made out of the fur of wild goats. I'll keep that about DYK in mind :) --ncw

“pelotes marines or pelotes-de-mer in French, Zeeballen in Dutch, motolini in Italian, and Seebälle in German”- I know none of any of these languages, but it seems that many of them are “balls of the sea” or something akin. Perhaps it’d be nice to have translations? Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 14:32, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

Added translations for those I know. --ncw

Also would be nice to have translations for okr elbahr and annabdti, as well as what language those are. Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 14:32, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

Added language. Schröder doesn't provide a translation, and Croneis & Grubbs just cite Schröder. --ncw

When you say that it used to be written as ſea balls, is that just the long s, which was used a while ago and had, as I remember, no difference from the regular s? Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 14:32, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

Yes; do you think I should remove that? --ncw

Probably; as much as I love tangents about linguistics, I don’t see any reason to include the long s. That said, it is very natural (and also what I first thought when I saw it in a paper) to assume it’s different. Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 19:41, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

I've removed it. --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 20:38, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

Formation:

Starting with a species name reads oddly. Otherwise, it’s good! Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 01:22, 21 September 2026 (UTC)

This was to avoid writing "formed from" which may be confusing on a first read. I've rephrased it differently (and hopefully the order is more straighforward as well). --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 15:45, 21 September 2026 (UTC)

Appearance, properties, and applications:

What do you mean by being in-between spherical and ellipsoidal? All the things I can think of being in-between a sphere and ellipsoid are either ellipsoid deformations or also ellipsoid. Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 21:15, 21 September 2026 (UTC)

I've removed that as it doesn't make sense. --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 06:58, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

You should use the convert template for measurements. Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 21:15, 21 September 2026 (UTC)

I see no reason to quote “relatively smooth”; it is as valid a statement as “they are light brown”. Ditto with “broken into a disordered bundle of smaller fibers”. Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 21:15, 21 September 2026 (UTC)

This was probably to show what was own wording and what was a quote, thus avoiding copyvio, but it's not much so I removed the quotation marks. --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 06:59, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

“transport to the shore; however,” -> “transport to the shore, though” as it reads oddly with a semicolon, then a coordinating conjecture, then a comma. Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 21:15, 21 September 2026 (UTC)

Done. --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 07:13, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

The majority of the applications paragraph seems off; it seems that it is talking more of N. oceanica than of the sea balls themselves. Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 21:15, 21 September 2026 (UTC)

I think, though some of the sources don't make this clear, that the uses involve harvesting sea balls from the shore which wash up there in the thousands. See for example File:Aegagropiles rejetés sur une plage de sable.jpg

Most likely, growing and drying the seagrass is not worth its cost, and would produce less valuable material since sea balls are primarily made of the remaining fibres (they have higher fibre density than P. oceanica itself). The last part of the paragraph includes "argues against removing Neptune balls from beaches" which I think makes it clear that this is about the sea balls and not the seagrass, although that probably comes too late. I'll see what I can do about this. --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 07:20, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

Awesome! Find a source for that if at all possible. Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 11:14, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

Done. --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 13:41, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

In the Mediterranean Sea:

I’d write out World Wildlife Fund. Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 02:37, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

Done. --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 07:00, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

The whole paragraph kinda feels chunky. Any way to reduce that a bit? Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 02:37, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

I've split it into two paragraphs since there are clearly two topics. --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 07:00, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

Worldwide:

"Posidonia australis is also in decline"- feels like a chunky sentence. I'd merge with first sentence. Cheers, _{In solidarity}User:Wikipedian12512(alt) (Talking is fine | contribs) 15:38, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

I think there is too much information to cap this at one sentence, but I added some more detail to hopefully make it feel less out of place and less chunky. --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 21:39, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

"Ireland, in 1996 and 2006"- the comma after Ireland feels inorganic and disrupts the flow. Cheers, _{In solidarity}User:Wikipedian12512(alt) (Talking is fine | contribs) 15:38, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

This is MOS:GEOCOMMA. --ncw

Good point, though it still feels off. Is it possible to rephrase? Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 00:05, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

Done! --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 07:53, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

Otherwise good! Cheers, _{In solidarity}User:Wikipedian12512(alt) (Talking is fine | contribs) 15:38, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for the prose comments - all addressed apart from the convert template which I'll learn to use as soon as possible. --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 21:42, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

Convert’s annoying. I’ve only learned four parameters so far, and only ever use three (the bare minimum) if at all possible. Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 00:08, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

Quite annoying, both to work with and to read. A scientific article should, IMO, use SI units (or their equivalents), since that's what the sources almost always use. Maybe not kelvins though. --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 17:59, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

Agreed, but I think convert’s for the readers (who are uneducated may not know the conversion of kilometers to miles). Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 18:55, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

Kinda tired right now, so feel free to laugh at my idiocy gently correct my possible mistakes. Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 00:18, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

How were they used to make footwear? Was this the true or false type? Was the footwear for commoners or nobles or what? Was it related to any gods? Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 00:18, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

Source says: "The first details on P. oceanica use in human civilization date back to ancient Egypt, where the P. oceanica egagropils [...] were used for the production of footwear". The article cites a book called "Flora of Egypt" which I can't access. There's nothing else in there. --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 06:47, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

Got it. Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 11:21, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

“Venetians used dry Posidonia oceanica leaves to pack glass, ceramics, and fish”- can you date this, or give an approximate time? Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 00:18, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

No, but I did just notice that's about P. oceanica and not its sea balls, so I removed it. --ncw

Plastic waste and climate:

The double use of [15] at the end of the first paragraph is unneeded, I think. Just put it at the end. Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 01:34, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

Many similar cases after the quote. Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 01:34, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

Both done! --ncw

Otherwise, the prose is good there! Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 01:34, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

Image review:

Copyright:

All good

Alt text:

Fine

Image requests:

Any pictures of true sea balls?

Regular captions:

The periods should be removed. Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 01:37, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

I'd rather not add pictures of algal balls. The article already has a hard time staying topical with all the discrepancies between P. oceanica, its sea balls, other seagrass sea balls, etc. The true sea balls do have pictures but they're only mentioned in passing because... well, the sources don't dwell on them, but also, it would get too offtopic. the intent is that readers can visit mentioned links to find out more about what is essentially just spherical algae. I've tried to make this a little clearer in the lead. Captions done. --ncw

Earwig (the most boring part of the entire thing):

…And this is why we do this part first. There are significant areas that need restructuring, as there is an entire paragraph (and some more) that differs in no way from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-79370-3. Good news is that the text is under CC 4.0, so it isn’t a copyright problem (nothing urgent), but it does need to be redone to avoid plagiarism. I’ll give the problem text here:

“Plastic debris in loose leaves (wracks) were found in 50% of the samples, with up to 613 plastic items per kg of dead leaves. Plastic items consisted mostly of fragments (61.29%) followed by pellets (33.67%) and foams (2.90%). The polymers were identified by spectrometry and included polyethylene (PE) (50.57%) followed by polypropylene (PP) (32.18%) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) (6.90%). Plastic sizes ranged from 0.55 to 287 mm and averaged 9.08 mm.”- this is identical to “Plastic debris in loose leaves (wracks) were found in 50% of the samples, with up to 613 plastic items per kg of dead leaves. Plastic items consisted mostly of fragments (61.29%) followed by pellets (33.67%) and foams (2.90%). The polymers were identified by spectrometry and included polyethylene (PE) (50.57%) followed by polypropylene (PP) (32.18%) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) (6.90%). Plastic sizes ranged from 0.55 to 287 mm and averaged 9.08 mm.”

“…leaf sheaths remain attached to the rhizome when leaves shed, and are slowly buried by sedimentation in the "matte", an accumulation of dead rhizomes and roots. During the burial process, leaf sheaths, which are rich in…” Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 01:45, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

This is why I added the template "this article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license". See Wikipedia:Copying text from other sources#Can I copy from open license or public domain sources?. Here's the diff with the added text, and here added the license - the very next edit, 5 minutes later. --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 06:30, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

Gotcha. Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 11:23, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

And source review:

1. Good Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 01:51, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

2. Good

3. Good

4. Good

5. Good, perhaps mention “Venetian straw” Cheers, _{In solidarity} Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 01:56, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Did you know nomination

(

• Comment or view
• Article history

)

A sea ball washed up on a beach

• ... that sea balls (pictured) are also known as aegagropilae, meaning "wild goat fur", because they look like hairballs regurgitated by goats?

• Source: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1620688114

• • ALT1: ... that sea balls (pictured), fibrous spheroids that wash up on shores, have been historically used in dentistry? Source: Schröder, Bruno (October 1920). "Über Seebälle".
  • ALT2: ... that sea balls (pictured) are formed when the fibres from decayed leaves of a seagrass species are released and roll up into spheres, before washing up on shores? Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-79370-3
  • Reviewed:
  • Comment: The second source can be accessed via WP:TWL. If these hooks are not good enough, I can probably come up with more - this article has many bizarre facts.

Improved to Good Article status by Not-cheesewhisk3rs (talk). Number of QPQs required: 0. Nominator has fewer than 5 past nominations.

--not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 16:54, 28 September 2026 (UTC).

• Intriguing hooks ... you had me at "sea balls". Newness requirement satisfied by promotion on 9/25. Article is long enough and neutrally written. One big problem: Earwig shows a 54.0% problem rate with the nature.com article. See here. Please have a look and rephrase the problematic portions. I believe "alt1" is the most interesting of the hooks, though all three are short enough and interesting. There is no online link for the source to alt 1 -- can you please provide a quotation (translated to English if needed) to verify the usage in dentistry? No QPQ required. Photo has Creative Commons 2.0 generic license, shows well at 100x100px and is very cool. Cbl62 (talk) 19:16, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

It's awfully late where I am, so I'll deal with the Nature source tomorrow. Schröder quote: "Dort werden die Seebälle als okr elbahr bezeichnet und ihre Verwendungen in der Zahnheilkunde hervorgehoben." Approximately translates to: "There the sea balls were known as okr elbahr and their use in dentistry accentuated." The photo is indeed great and I'm glad it exists! --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 21:08, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

No rush. Tomorrow is fine. Cbl62 (talk) 21:51, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for your patience. Down to 18.7% similarity, Earwig says "violation unlikely". I will note that the text of the source is under a free license so a violation can't happen, which I also said in the GA review, but I trimmed it anyhow since this is the second time the copyvio tool has come up as an issue. --not-cheesewhisk3rs ≽^•⩊•^≼ ∫ (pester) 07:26, 29 September 2026 (UTC)

• Thanks for addressing those issues. Good to go. Cbl62 (talk) 14:08, 29 September 2026 (UTC)