A huge barnacle-covered ‘sea monster with dreadlocks’ has got people scratching their heads
A Rastafarian whale, a beach Christmas tree, and an alien time-pod capsule are just a few of the imaginative explanations offered by online commenters for the unusual object that washed up on Muriwai beach in Auckland, New Zealand, recently.
Image © Melissa Doubleday/Facebook
Image © Melissa Doubleday/Facebook
Melissa Doubleday, a local resident, posted photos of the dreadlocked “creature” (dubbed the “Muriwai Monster”) on the Muriwai & Waimauku Area Community Facebook group last week.
“I actually thought it was a washed-up whale as I approached it, so weird,” Doubleday explained to stuff.co.nz. The photos sparked intense interest and debate online, with some residents rushing to Muriwai Beach to catch a glimpse of the unusual discovery.
For Auckland local Rani Timoti, the weird wash-up was a first. “It’s got a putrid smell when you’re downwind, and when you look closely, it looks like wiggling worms,” she said.
Image © Melissa Doubleday/Facebook
So, what is it exactly? According to the New Zealand Marine Sciences Society, this is almost certainly a piece of driftwood covered in gooseneck barnacles (though an alien time capsule is not out of the question). These marine crustaceans can be found in temperate waters all over the world, and they, like all barnacles, attach to the surfaces of driftwood or rocks. Gooseneck barnacle larvae can glue themselves to objects underwater by using a biochemical cement and a specialized stalk called a peduncle. Once settled, they use water currents to wave their feathery feeding appendages, filtering out food particles.
Barnacle “glue” has long piqued the interest of scientists, who have gone to great lengths to figure out how these crustaceans can form such strong bonds underwater. A tiny drop of oil released just before the barnacle larvae attach themselves to an object is the key to this natural superglue. This removes the water from the area and prepares it for the super-sticky phosphoprotein adhesive.
Barnacles, like those found on Muriwai Beach, are frequently eaten when they aren’t being studied by biologists and geneticists. Because of their sweet flesh, the tube-shaped gooseneck barnacles are considered a delicacy in Spain and Portugal. (It’s probably safer to convince everyone that you’re sea monsters.)