By Tim Binnall
A pair of weird sea creatures that washed ashore in North Carolina have left wildlife experts scratching their heads and turning to the public in the hopes of identifying the mysterious denizens of the deep. The puzzling oddities were reportedly discovered by workers from the Cape Lookout National Seashore, which oversees parts of the state's barrier islands. Sharing images of the curious creatures on their Facebook page, the department explained that members of their 'turtle patrol' team stumbled upon the two strange objects sitting on a beach and indicated that "so far, we're stumped as to what they might be."
Described as being "6 inches long and no longer alive," the two dark creatures appear to sport a string of white spikes protruding from their bodies, though the department conceded that they are uncertain as to the nature of the appendages. While experts from the Cape Lookout National Seashore suspected that the animals could be "a form of sea cucumber" or perhaps sea slugs, they were unable to conclusively prove this theory as the oddities "couldn't be matched to any images that were posted online."
As such, they called on members of the Facebook group to help them in solving the mystery. And, unsurprisingly, people on social media had a myriad of suggestions for what the animals could be, including fireworms, bristle worms, or the aforementioned sea cucumber. Others merely marveled at the weird animals with one imaginative individual likening it to the creature that "popped out of that man's stomach in the movie Alien." Can you identify the confounding creatures? Share your best guess at the C2C Facebook page.