Caravan couple stumped after thousands of 'hairy' balls wash up on Aussie beach
Travelling Aussie Susie Fitzgerald told Yahoo News she's not seen anything like it before. Here's what they are.
A woman has been left scratching her head after finding thousands of "hairy" balls along an Aussie beach, admitting she picked one up and hurt her fingers from the "tiny little pricks".
Susie Fitzgerald has been "living on the road" in her caravan with her husband and has been residing in Darwin for the last six months while the couple petsit. On Saturday she took the dog for a walk at Casuarina Beach and was stunned to come across the unusual sight.
"[There was] thousands upon thousands for a distance of possibly 400 metres," she told Yahoo News, explaining she was "fascinated" by the scene, saying it was something she'd never encountered before.
After picking one up, being pricked on the finger by it, and subsequently dropping it, Susie's curiosity was piqued and she started to question what her seaside discovery was. "I was at a loss as to what they were," she recalled.
Dog walker stumbled upon thousands of 'sand dollars'
Despite Susie being stumped by the balls, finding so-called "sand dollars" scattered across Aussie beaches is relatively common, marine biologist Benjamin Mos from The Univesity of Queensland told Yahoo News.
"Sand dollars are closely related to sea urchins, but unlike sea urchins, they tend to live buried in soft sediment and sand," he explained.
"People tend to find them washed up on the beach like in the photos."
It is unclear what species of sand dollars is in the picture that Susie snapped, but finding them washed ashore is often a result of large swells and could be "something related to the big tides we have been having lately," Mos suggested.
Sand dollars are "generally safe to touch" if beachgoers can avoid their spines — something Susie didn't quite manage. And other than being "a bit smelly as they decompose", they are relatively harmless.
Beachside find are often used to make jewellery and ornaments
Despite their name suggesting otherwise, sand dollars are not worth a lot. They are, however, often used to make jewellery and ornaments.
"The dollar name tends to relate to the flattened shape of some species, and not because they are worth a lot," Mos said.
The beachside find comes a week after several Sydney beaches were closed to the public as hundreds of black golf ball-sized spheres washed ashore, with authorities initially unsure what they were. The beaches have since reopened, with it understood the balls were "made up of fatty acids, chemicals consistent with those found in cleaning and cosmetic products, mixed with some fuel oil," NSW Maritime Executive Director Mark Hutchings said.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
