SEE: Strange alien creatures plague KZN's beaches
Shock, surprise, and utter disbelief over this image...
Some weird and wild things wash up on our beaches, but this peaked our interest.
A ghostly clear unidentified critter was captured by Hennie Griessel while walking with his family along the beach at Richards Bay. This is not a first find for this explorer. Hennie claims to have come across the same “strange creatures” last year around the same time.
Take a look at these clear free-floating ocean creatures and let us know what you think they are:
Read More: The biggest and weirdest things that washed up on SA's shores this year!
In a statement shared by the South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR), they revealed that "it is difficult to say when these creatures washed up but it is possible that they were brought up to the ocean surface by upwelling before strong onshore winds carried them onto the beaches”.
These ‘strange creatures’ are in fact salps which are free-floating open ocean creatures with brains, hearts, complex nervous, circulatory and digestive systems that propel themselves through the mid-water in long strings or swarms.
As revealed above, these unique creatures are salps.
According to SAAMBR, salps are the fastest growing multicellular animal on earth and can grow to maturity in 48 hours.
“If you happen to come across some of these wonderful creatures whilst walking along the shore, we would be grateful if you could take a photo and send it to us. You can either email the photo to us on [email protected] or alternately send it via Facebook.”
Read More: 'Charlotte the Ghost' haunts KZN's Nottingham Road Hotel
Here's more about creatures found on beaches in Stillbaai:
In Stillbaai, these creatures are plaguing the golden beaches.
Locals woke up to this frightening object that emerged from the shore.
See what looked to be "alien-like creatures" shared on Facebook by the We are South Africans civil society movement.
Read More: Sun's out, buns out: Durban's infamous nude beaches
Contrary to first inspection, it was confirmed to be upside-down dried out Aloe Ferox leaves which the sea washed ashore - and not aliens like some had guessed.
Aloe ferox, commonly known as bitter aloe, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asphodelaceae. This woody aloe is indigenous to southern Africa.
See a picture below:
Gilbert Martin, founder of We Are South Africans, a civil society movement, said they spotted the pictures taken by Jan Vorster from Stilbaai and shared it on their platform on Facebook, not knowing the confusion it would cause, let alone the hilarious responses.
According to the post, several people guessed that they were alien spiders, crabs doing yoga, sunflower sea stars, seaweed, and even some kind of chopped trees.
Read More: Boom! Largest volcano in the world erupts
IOL shares that "Two Oceans Aquarium took one look and concluded that it was in fact, upside down, dried aloes that were most likely placed intentionally for artistic intent – perhaps by a land artist, a photographer or for the backdrop for something."
Stay tuned for more phenomenons on the East and West Coast brought to you by Stacey and J Sbu.
More on East Coast Radio:
Image courtesy of Facebook