Some beach-goers were shocked to the bones after spotting dozens of strange creatures across seafronts in New South Wales in Australia following weeks of record rainfall.
The weedy seadragons were seen in Cronulla, Malabar and the Central Coast and they are said to be 10 times the number that usually washup to the sea shore.
This incident has left animal experts in shock as they attempt to explain why the “bizarre” creatures washed up on the beaches.
Although, it’s normal for the creatures to be found in Australian waters, it’s unusual for them to stray so far away from the ocean. Adult sea dragons are estimated to only move a mere 50-500 metres away from where they were birthed.
A professor of marine ecology at the University of Technology, Dr David Booth, told the Sydney Morning Herald: “Clearly it’s a result of some combination of the shocking weather, pollutants being washed into the ocean and big surf.”