Mysterious 'gross' sea creature washes up on Queensland beach
Two women walking along a Queensland beach spotted a peculiar sea creature that even the rangers couldn’t identify.
Catherine Nguyen told Yahoo News Australia she was strolling along Tangalooma beach with her sister when they came across the bizarre creature.
A photo shows the creature on the shore, pinkish in colour and similar in shape to a sea cucumber. It appears to be covered in white bumps.
“No idea what it was so I took that photo and my sister threw it back into the sea,” she said, adding it was “rather soft” to touch.
“We took it to the Tangalooma Eco Centre and none of the Eco Rangers there quite knew what it was either, but they've spotted them before.
“So I sent it to ABC Brisbane hoping someone from the public might identify it, and they sent the photo to the Queensland Museum.”
According to ABC Brisbane, the Queensland Museum determined the creature is an Obese Sea Pen or a Cavernularia obesa.
According to the Atlas of Living Australia, Obese Sea Pens are widespread throughout tropical regions in the Indo-Pacific.
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