Fake fingers, mermaid skeletons: Weirdest items washed up on Queensland’s beaches
From disembodied fingers to ‘mermaid skeletons’, a number of highly unusual items have appeared on our coastlines. Take a look at our list of some of the craziest and the explanations behind them.
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Beaches are a quintessential part of Queensland’s identity.
Whether you enjoy surfing, lying on a towel in the sun or going for a relaxing stroll to feel the water on your toes; the beach is meant to be a fun, peaceful experience for all.
So what happens when you come across something a bit out of the ordinary on the Queensland coastline?
Many strange things have popped up on Queensland shores in recent years, ranging from unidentifiable marine skeletons, failed drug imports to strandings of marine wildlife.
A spokesperson from the Queensland Department of Environment and Science (DES) said that marine strandings that they had responded to included, the strandings of dugongs, dolphins, marine turtles, seals, and whales.
“Strandings include marine animals that have been located deceased, sick, injured, incapacitated, entangled, or rescued,” the spokesperson said.
“Marine turtles are among the most common marine animals that feature in annual strandings.
“Strandings of turtles and dugong often increase markedly after flood events, when murky water and low salinity combine to kill seagrass, which is the animals’ main food source.”
2022 alone marked a crazy year for coastal finds when a knock-on effect from major floods caused cows, pontoons, boats and enormous amounts of debris to appear on the sandy beaches of the Sunshine State.
And while the DES does not capture data about non-wildlife related items found on Queensland coastlines, the DES spokesperson said that the impact of these items, particularly plastic, can have a “deleterious effect” on marine life.
But when it comes to finding marine life on Queensland coastlines, the DES spokesperson advises that members of the public are best to report it to the department.
“With the best of intentions, members of the public sometimes try to assist a stranded marine animal back into the water, but we advise strongly against this,” the spokesperson said.
“This stresses the animal more, and when stressed, the animals can try to defend themselves, injuring people in the process.
“Members of the public can report a marine animal strike, marine animal stranding or an injured, sick or dead turtle, dugong, dolphin, seal or whale to us on 1300 130 372.”
And while marine life are some of the most common things found on the shores of our state’s beaches, what are some of the other weird and wacky items that have been found along the coastline?
Take a look at our list of some of the wackiest items discovered on Queensland beaches, from strange-looking sea creatures to fake fingers.
BUCK-TOOTHED FISH, SUNRISE BEACH
A mysterious buck-toothed fish surprised members of the public on Sunrise Beach, after it was discovered by a woman walking her dog at the Noosa beach on August 10, 2023.
About 40cm long, the big strange-looking fish was found “high up” above the tide line on the beach and confused people on Facebook who tried to identify the fishy creature on a post.
Identified by its terrifyingly large front teeth, Queensland Museum ichthyologist Jeff Johnson confirmed the fish to be an Arothron stellatus, a common species of starry puffer fish, not known to be aggressive.
MERMAID-LIKE SKELETON, KEPPEL SANDS
People were shocked and confused when a set of skeletal remains looking like that of a “mermaid alien” were discovered on a beach in Keppel Sands, Queensland in July, 2023.
The two-metre long structure contained what appeared to be a human-shaped skull with a set of ribs and a mermaid-like limb, confusing passers-by and animal experts alike.
Posted to social media, commenters theorised the mysterious creature could in fact just be a dolphin or a sea lion.
One zoological expert believes the mythical-looking creature to be a “small cetacean” or a marine mammal such as a dolphin, whale or porpoise.
MUTILATED SHARK CARCASS, ROWES BAY
Intercepted by a family on their way to dinner, this shark was found on the shore of Rowes Bay in Townsville in June, 2023, strangely with its fins, tail and teeth removed.
While finding dead marine creatures is not too unusual, the finning of sharks at sea is illegal in Commonwealth fisheries according to the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, in addition to the dumping of carcasses.
The mutilated shark was discovered with its removed fin and tail nearby.
MULTIPLE BEACHED WHALES, FRASER COOLOOLA COAST
While beached whales aren’t a completely rare occurrence, three whales that all died of natural causes were beached along the Fraser Cooloola Coast in a single week in June 2023.
The first whale, a young humpback, was found stranded at Susan River on June 16 and was moved to a safe location by rangers.
A whopping 18 tonne humpback was the second whale that washed up at Inskip Point near Rainbow Beach on June 22 which was required to be dug and winched out of the sand with an excavator before being transported by a super tilt tray.
The next day, a 10.8-metre Bryde’s whale was discovered alive on K’gari Beach and later died after several refloating attempts.
A Department of Environment and Science spokesperson said that these strandings were a seasonal occurrence.
“Strandings for humpback whales tend to be seasonal, with strandings occurring during the whale migration season, between mid-June and late-October,” the spokesperson said.
FAKE FINGER, FOUR MILE BEACH
Social media users were sent into a frenzy after what appeared to be a bloody severed human finger was found in February, 2023 on Four Mile Beach in Port Douglas.
After being discovered, the disembodied body part was uploaded to Facebook Marketplace for an appropriate ‘four digit’ price of $1111, however there was more than meets the eye.
The mysterious finger was actually a fake rubber prop that had washed up on the beach, breaking the search for any nine-fingered people roaming around Far North Queensland’s Port Douglas.
STRANGE GREY OBJECT, MAGNETIC ISLAND
LANGUAGE WARNING FOR THE FOLLOWING VIDEO:
A TikTok video of a strange object that rocked up on a North Queensland beach in October, 2022, racked up nearly nine million views after social media users were confused about the source of the grey, unidentified object.
The limb-like item was found on Magnetic Island near Townsville and measures at about a metre long, with a similar shape to that of a human leg.
TikTok user @bootscootinaf who posted the video can be heard saying: “Here‘s a new one, what the f*** is that?”.
Appearing to have been bitten, TikTok users were quick to leave their guesses of what it could be in the comments, ranging from an animal’s tongue to a whale penis.
However, marine experts have said that despite the fact it could most likely be part of an organ or the intestines of a marine animal, seeing it wash ashore is extremely rare as most bodily items like these would sink to the bottom of the ocean.
MYSTERY CREATURE, SUNRISE BEACH
‘Blob’ is the best way to describe this mysterious creature that appeared on Sunrise Beach in Noosa in October, 2022.
About half a metre long and appearing to weigh around 20kg, the fleshy object appeared to have puncture wounds on its surface, similar to the surface of human skin.
Originally posted on Facebook, commenters have theorised the ‘blob’ could be the internal organs of a vertebrae of a fish, with others suggesting it could be a whale liver or a large sea cucumber.
WATERLOGGED POSSUM, COTTON TREE BEACH
Like something out of Jurassic Park, this alien-like animal confused Maroochydore man Alex Tan when he discovered the washed-up creature on Sunshine Coast’s Cotton Tree Beach in April, 2022.
With human-like hands, a long tail, a bloated stomach and a pointy skull, on first appearance this fleshy animal seems like something from another planet.
However, a University of Queensland Associate Professor, Stephen Johnston, offered up a more realistic solution, suggesting that the nightmare-inducing creature was in fact a waterlogged brushtail possum that was washed away in the floods.
Believed to be a victim of the drastic weather, the possum is theorised to have lost its fur, swelled up with water and begun decomposing, hence the unusual appearance.
CATTLE, GOLD COAST & TOWNSVILLE BEACHES
While sea cows are marine creatures that actually exist, these cattle are not what you’d normally expect to see at the beach.
Following the devastating NSW and Queensland floods in March 2022, cows began appearing along the nation’s east coast, with multiple dead cows found across various beaches on the Gold Coast including Broadbeach and Mermaid Beach.
Another cow, believed to have travelled from Murwillumbah which survived being trapped in flood waters in Tweed River, was seen running around Duranbah Beach on the Queensland-NSW border, but was shot dead by police after it reportedly became a traffic hazard.
But this was not the first time cows washed up on Queensland’s shorelines.
Far North Queensland residents reported a number of dead cows that appeared on beaches in January 2019, following significant floods in the Daintree, one cow was found on Wonga Beach after a reported 471.6mm of rain at Whyanbeel Valley.
A year earlier in March 2018, Member for Kennedy, the Hon Bob Katter MP found a cow carcass on South Mission Beach while he was visiting the surf club with Member for Hill Shane Knuth MP.
The find came one day after another dead cow washed up on Wongaling Beach a day prior during Tropical cyclone Nora in 2018.
30-YEAR-OLD WALLET, YORKEYS KNOB
If it’s been 30 years since you lost something, you can pretty much guarantee that it’s gone.
And that’s why Former State Member for Cairns Rob Pyne was shocked when he had his lost wallet from 30 years ago returned to him in 2021.
The political figure and Division 2 councillor was reunited with his wallet in April 2021 after he lost it in a diving accident that made him a quadriplegic in 1991.
A worker discovered the item near a boat ramp in Yorkeys Knob where they’d been building a new toilet block, reuniting Mr Pyne with his old bank cards and his last-ever driver's licence.
Mr Pyne had lost the wallet while he was out sailing with his fiance, father and mother-in-law where he dived into the water and suffered a spinal cord injury at 23.
Mr Pyne became Australia’s first quadriplegic member of parliament after being sworn in as MP for Cairns in 2015.
COCAINE, RAMSAY BAY
Investigators from the Far Northern and Cairns District Major and Organised Crime Squad were called to search Hinchinbrook Island after 10kg of a white powder substance was found on Ramsay Bay in February, 2021.
The 10 1kg packages, believed to be cocaine, were discovered on a high-tide part of the beach, with an estimated worth of $3m.
Far North police Detective Acting Inspector Kevin Goan said that the large quantity suggested it was linked to a trafficking ring.
CORNFLAKE SEAWEED, GOLD COAST BEACHES
While it’s not unusual to see seaweed at the beach, the summer of 2019-2020 saw massive build ups of cornflake seaweed on the Gold Coast shorelines.
Strong northerly and easterly winds were to blame for the high piles of thick seaweed in a process known as “upwelling”, bringing seaweed often found in deep waters to the surface.
Miami Beach, Palm Beach and Burleigh Beach were among just some of the places where the build-ups occurred, with one runner having to be rescued after getting stuck in the large mass of seaweed.
Knee-deep in some parts, Gold Coast lifeguards told beachgoers to take care as the large piles of seaweed which could still contained marine life like jellyfish and bluebottles.
ALBINO TURTLE, CASTAWAYS BEACH
An adorable white, pink-eyed turtle was discovered on the Sunshine Coast back in February 2016 by a volunteer environmental group turtle monitoring along Castaways Beach.
This rare albino green turtle was discovered by the Coolum District Care Group and was named ‘Alby’ after the condition that generated his rare white appearance.
Queensland Government Threatened Species Unit chief scientist Dr Col Limpus said that albino hatchlings were an “extremely rare” occurrence which happened at a rate of “one in many hundreds of thousands of eggs that are laid”.
Have you found something unusual washed up on the beach? Let us know in the comments.
Originally published as Fake fingers, mermaid skeletons: Weirdest items washed up on Queensland’s beaches
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