Strange animals have washed ashore on Australian shores.
Experts have been taken aback by the dead marine fish, which have been photographed along New South Wales' seafronts.
The weedy seadragons have been found in Cronulla, Malabar, and the Central Coast, and are considered to be 10 times more prevalent than regular wash-ups on the beaches.
A strange alien-like creature with 'human lips' washed ashore on an Australian beach lately, perplexing residents.
Seadragons
JOE KLAMAR/AFP/GettyImages
"Clearly, it's a mix of the awful weather, contaminants dumped into the water, and tremendous waves," Dr. David Booth, professor of marine ecology at the University of Technology Sydney told the Sydney Morning Herald, as per News.com.
Weedy seadragons, commonly known as common seadragons, are found mostlyonn Australian seas.
It's rare to see the critters so far away from their natural habitat. Dr. Selma Klanten, the principal scientist from UTS's Fish Ecology Laboratory, stated that adults may only wander 50-500 meters from where they were born in their lifespan.
The weedy seadragon is a favorite among divers owing to its beautiful yellow and purple colors. It may grow to be 45cm long.
They are related to the seahorse and thrive around reefs with abundant kelp.
The animals were demoted from 'threatened species' to least concerned on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species in 2016.
The species is protected in New South Wales, and collecting or harvesting the seadragon without permission is a crime.
Beachgoers in Sydney discovered an utterly bizarre critter that resembles half of nothing anybody could recognize.
Drew Lambert was jogging on Bondi Beach on April 5 when he noticed the unexpected scene, according to a Storyful post.
The strange creature had washed up on the beach, resting among seaweed-like detritus.
They believe it is a bone shark because it has skin and a tapering back end that seems to be a tail.
Lambert told that the monster was over half a meter long and had lips like a "human" and skin like a "shark."
"I've lived in Bondi for 20 years and I've never seen anything like that," he continued, as per Times Now News.
However, the shark notion was quickly dismissed when he saw the half-dead body lacked a distinguishing trait of sharks.
The responses appeared to be almost unanimous in their identification of the creature as a coffin ray.
However, Laetitia Hannan, a supervisor at the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium, later verified that it was a coffin ray, also known as an Australian numbfish.
The bloated look is caused by decomposition, which causes bodies to fill with gas.
The discovery comes only one week after another weird bloated creature with a reptile-like cranium, claws, and a long rat-like tail washed up on a Queensland beach.
Only a month ago, another man discovered a 'strange' creature on an Australian beach. In a YouTube upload, Alex Tan characterized the creature as 'extra-terrestrial.'
"It looks like a deadheaded possum, but it's unlike anything I've ever seen," he added. The bizarre, already-dead animal featured a reptile skull, arms, four legs, a long tail, and claws
Tan had also found the marine monster while out for a morning stroll on Maroochydore Beach.
Surprising, but not for those who are familiar with aquatic life and how it is teeming with odd organisms that do not appear to be genuine.
