Beachcombers in Horseshoe Bay in Port Elliott, south of Adelaide, happened across a bizarre find on Monday: a nearly 10-ft.-long mass of luminous stalks that some have described as tentacles that looked like vermicelli noodles, dotted with shells.
"Over 26 years walking Horseshoe Bay - I've never seen anything quite like this before! Nature never ceases to amaze!" said Vicki Evans, who photographed the oddity and shared the images on her community Facebook page.
According to a report, the alien-looking sea flotsam is actually a species of communal crustaceans known as goose barnacles. Australian marine ecologist Dr. Zoe Doubleday suggested that the cluster found on the beach broke away from a larger piece that may have been part of a jetty or pylon that became covered with the barnacles over a long period.