A mysterious, alien-like creature has washed up on a popular beach, leaving locals stunned.
The strange creature, which was discovered on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, this week, appears to have a reptilian-like skull, flabby limbs, a long tail and claws.
Local resident Alex Tan first discovered the creature on the shore of Cotton Tree beach during his morning beach walk.
He shared a video of his encounter with the unknown animal to his Instagram page and began to provide a guess as to what it could be.
‘I’ve stumbled across something weird,’ he said to the camera. ‘This is like one of those things you see when people claim they’ve found aliens.’
As Alex provides a glimpse of the creature on camera, flies can be seen crawling on top of it and buzzing around it.
‘It looks like a de-haired possum, but different to anything I’ve seen,’ Alex continued before labelling it ‘extraterrestrial’.
Those who have reacted to the clip on social media believe it could be either a joey kangaroo or wallaby due to its features and small size.
It’s not the first time a strange creature has washed up on the shore of an Australian beach or found in the nearby water.
A mysterious brain-like creature was discovered last month at Warriewood Beach on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
The creature had left locals mystified, before being identified as a wandering sea anemone.
After stumbling across the bizarre blob-like critter the woman uploaded a photo to Facebook in hopes someone could identify it.
‘Hey anyone know what this is? Washed up at Warriewood Beach this morning? Approximately 15cm x 10cm,’ she captioned the image.
Budding wildlife experts were quick to share their thoughts on the brain-like creature with some comparing its consistency to kidney or baked beans.
One commenter finally identified the mysterious blob as a ‘wandering sea anemone’ also known as a ‘swimming anemone’ or ‘brain anemone’.
The specie is the largest of the anemone family and is commonly spotted inside rock pools across Sydney due to the its ability to move about freely.
The anemone can crawl along the seafloor or drift with the current but is most likely to be found attached to rocks or algae.
The swimming anemone can be red, yellow, orange, blue or even striped and is an agile predator when compared to other species.
The anemone is widespread in Australian waters, from Western Australia to NSW, with the odd-looking creature also cropping up in New Zealand.
In July 2020, scientists were left baffled when another alien-like sea creature washed ashore at a popular beach just north of Hervey Bay in Queensland.
The pink blob-like creature was photographed by Damien Said.
Beachgoers struggled to identify the mottled pink and white sea creature after images were posted to Facebook by environmental conservation organisation SCF Australia.
‘Can anyone ID this?’ they wrote.
Three images were posted alongside the request for information of a translucent jellyfish lookalike.
One of the images was set taken beside the photographer’s foot to show the sea creature’s enormous size.
Many social media users were stumped and noted its ‘alien’ features, but a few people suggested it may be a type of nudibranch – or sea slug.
The invertebrate species are bottom dwelling creatures with more than 2,000 known species.
‘This is a hooded nudibranch of the genus Melibe. What an amazing animal!’ one person posted.
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