'Stuff of nightmares': Woman stunned by discovery at end of fishing line
A Queensland woman has reached out to a social media group for help identifying a strange looking creature she reeled in on a recent fishing trip.
“What is this? Anyone know?” she asked in a North Lakes Facebook group along with two images of a long creature with a bright yellow fin like object attached.
The odd-looking sea creature drew plenty of jokes from members of the group.
“It’s a long yellowfin nosed whatchamacallit,” one person wrote
“Obviously it’s baby corn stuck on a pine cone,” another commented.
“I thought it had a deflated condom stuck on the end of it,” a user wrote.
All jokes aside a few people cautioned the woman to throw it back.
“Don’t touch it, they flipping hurt to get your finger in as my hubby learnt,” a person warned.
The woman said she learned the hard way the group was right, they do sting but she thinks she may have solved the mystery.
“I’m pretty sure it’s a bristle worm,” the woman updated the group, although she said she was unsure what the yellow part was.
“That is the stuff nightmares are made of,” one user said.
But Southern Cross University National Marine Science Centre Professor Stephen Smith believes the creature is a seapen.
“They are in the same animal group as soft corals and do have stinging cells in their tentacles, however these are usually very weak and don’t normally penetrate skin,” he said.
While Professor Smith was unsure which species it was, he said the long yellow/orange part of the seapen is usually buried in the sand as an anchor.
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