`Alien eggs’ return to Sydney’s Dee Why Beach
MYSTERIOUS green balls, once described by one observer as ‘alien eggs’, have returned to a Sydney beach — three years after they first invaded the shoreline.
Manly
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MYSTERIOUS green balls, once described by one observer as ‘alien eggs’, have returned to the northern beaches.
Three years ago hundreds of the objects — about the size of a tennis ball — washed up on Dee Why Beach, leaving people puzzled as to what they could be.
Now, they’ve returned to once again invaded the same beach. Narraweena’s Michael and Suzy Williams photographed close to 20 of them on Thursday morning — and they were still there as of Monday.
“They’re pretty cool and they are like the tennis balls of the ocean,” Mrs Williams said.
“They are really interesting — even the seagulls are intrigued,” Mrs Williams, a school science teacher, believed they were actually algae that had originated from nearby Dee Why Lagoon, which had recently been drained. “I think that’s the source,” she said.
“It only seems to happen at Dee Why and Long Reef and I think it (the algae) comes out, gets trapped and rolls into balls with the waves.
“They are sort of spongy — they are kind of like a hair ball.”
University of NSW School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences associate professor Alistair Poore has previously told the Manly Daily the balls were living green algae.
“I’ve seen similar things — sometimes dead sea grass can roll around and form balls like underwater tumbleweeds,” Mr Poore said. “But that’s made of dead material and these look to be living.”