A mystery sea creature boasting 100 tentacle-like arms is flummoxing a Singapore fisherman credited with the catch, and even with help from experts, the "alien" has yet to be identified.
Ong Han Boon, 54, was recently fishing at his favorite spot off the island of Sentosa when he reeled up something that he did not expect. Assuming a fish was putting up the fight, Boon was "completely flummoxed" when the strange animal was on the end of his line instead.
"I've had quite a few odd things from come out of the ocean but I have never seen anything like this before in my life. It had all these arms waving around," Boon told The Mirror.
"I thought it looked like an alien or some kind of mutant," he added.
The unknown species resembles an octopus, but rather than eight arms it has an astonishing 100 moving tentacles.
So Boon decided to post his video of the bizarre creature online in the hope that someone, friend or expert, could solve the mystery.
"I've asked all my friends and none of them know and all my internet searches have not turned up anything that looks like this," he said. "So, if no one can't identify it then I guess I'm right - it's either an alien or I've discovered a new species of mutant sea creature."
"That would not surprise me with all the pollution they put in the water nowadays," Boone added.
Though no one has been able to definitely identify the sea beast, some believe it may be a basket star - a member of the same phylum, Echinodermata, as sea stars and sand dollars.
According to Business Insider, basket stars are a type of brittle star, known for their twisting, turning mass of arms, each containing spiky hooks used to catch their prey, usually zooplankton. And if one of their arms breaks, they can simply regrow another.
Basket stars can live in the very deep ocean, sometimes as far down as 6,000 feet.
[Credit: NYPost]
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