‘Weird’ discovery on Aussie beach stuns
Locals have been left stumped by a natural phenomenon that washed up on a beach in South Australia.
Locals have been left stumped by a natural phenomenon that washed up on a beach in South Australia.
Vicki Evans was on her usual morning walk at Horseshoe Bay in Port Elliot – about one hour from Adelaide – when she came across something so extraordinary, she had to share it online.
“Over 26 years walking Horseshoe Bay – I’ve never seen anything quite like this before!” she wrote in a now viral Facebook post on the Everybody Loves (Port) Elliot community page.
“Nature never ceases to amaze!”
The images immediately sparked hundreds of comments from locals weighing in on what the thing could be with some describing it as “alien” looking with its long translucent stalks.
“I’ll tell you what it is … it’s another reason not to paddle in the sea..!!” one person joked.
“Oh wow!!!! That’s amazing Vicki. Nature never ceases to amaze. ️I’m glad you didn’t swim into it,” a second person wrote, while others said it was “weird”, “extraordinary” and “beautiful”.
Many came to the conclusion it was goose barnacles – and they were correct.
According to the Australian Museum, goose barnacles have long rubbery stalks and are usually found in large groups either attached to floating objects, on wharves and piers or washed up on the shore.
“Two major types of barnacles are found in Australian waters – the goose barnacles and the acorn barnacles. Both have a tough shell covering on the outside, which may lead some people to believe that barnacles are more closely related to snails than they are to crabs and lobsters,” it states on he Australian Museum website.
“However on the inside barnacles are very much crustaceans, having jointed legs, which they use to catch small particles of food.”
University of South Australia marine ecologist Dr Zoe Doubleday said she has never seen anything like it.
“It just must be an old pylon from a jetty or some piece of marine infrastructure that has been in the water for such a long time to grow a dense cluster of barnacles,” she told The Advertiser.
She said she had never seen a specimen that big, and was surprised, adding it looked like the mass “broke off the mothership” and floated to shore.
Locals shared footage and images of goose barnacles they're also spotted along the shore including at Middleton Beach and Goolwa Beach in South Australia.
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“We saw similar on a beach near Port Macquarie in NSW recently! Never seen anything like it before!” one person wrote along a similar photo
“I took this morning. Need to look really closely but all the shells had brown creatures moving in and out of them,” one woman said as she shared vision of her find.
They are often found in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.
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