Strange 'blobs' scattered across famous Aussie beach after washing ashore
Brighton Beach is known for its colourful beach huts – but it's something else that stole the attention of visitors over the weekend.
In Australia, there's no shortage of weird and wonderful creatures that capture the attention of wildlife enthusiasts, but every now and again one comes along that has people scratching their heads.
Such was the case in Victoria at the weekend, where a number of transparent, doughnut-looking "blobs" washed ashore at Brighton Beach, in Melbourne's south-east.
Pictures uploaded to social media show a woman holding the clear, spiral-shaped items, besides the caption: "Can someone tell me what these are?".
Aussie stumped by sight of 'odd blob'
Almost 200 people responded, each offering their own opinions over the blobs' origins. Some people claimed "they were dead jellyfish", another said "shark poop" and one even claimed it was "whale snot".
Many others questioned why the user picked up the objects in the first place, without knowing what they are. "Why would anyone handle something they have no idea about, could of been some flesh eating jelly fish, or toxic blob," a man wrote.
"Don't pick up things you don't know what they are. Especially at the beach. A friend picked up a blue ringed octopus because it didn't have blue rings at the time. She is lucky to be alive," said a woman.
Expert puts theories to rest
After hundreds more responses, with dozens hypothesising over what the slimy semi-circled blobs are, a wildlife expert put it all to rest.
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Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, a spokesperson for the Australian Marine Conservation Society confirmed they are in fact sea snail eggs.
The sacs of snails come from the family Naticidae and some grow from five centimetres in length up to 10cm. They can even weigh as much as 200 grams. The sacs are clear, and often contain hundreds of individual eggs.
Warning over handling of sea snail eggs
CSIRO has previously warned Australians not to throw them and instead carefully place them back into the water by hand.
"The egg masses break up in the water after a few days, releasing planktonic larvae from the eggs," the government agency explained.
One woman admitted online she "feels terrible now" after throwing them as a child, mistaking them for dead jellyfish.
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