A day at the beach can go south very quickly, especially if you spot something strange along the shoreline. The people who took these pictures certainly did, and while some of them are wacky, wonderful, or just plain weird, these photos prove that some things under the sea should stay there...
Under the Sea Monster
This is deeply unsettling to look at. The residents of Seram Island, Indonesia found a single boat-sized creature dripping with red fluid on their shores. With parts of its body inflated by large quantities of gas-producing bacteria, it was quite a sight. However, scientists explained that the creature was simply a type of baleen whale…
Oarfish Ovaries
When a deep-sea oarfish measuring 4 meters (13.5 feet) in total length washed up on the shores of Catalina Island in California on June 1, 2015, the animal offered scientists the rare opportunity to take a closer look at the creature's inner biology. Teams of researchers jumped at the opportunity to study the fish, which they discovered had ovaries measuring 7 feet long!
Jaw Dropping
This strange piece of bone was found in the sand, but it wasn't something you'd add to your seashell collection. The jawlike bone washed ashore in Rhode Island, but the finder didn't know for sure. Some things are better left unknown...
Sea Salt Pickles
Inexplicably congregating by the millions, a collection of translucent, bumpy-skinned oblong sea creatures known to scientists pyrosomes (or “sea pickles”) have been seen washing up along the Pacific coastline in the U.S. Don't add that to your sandwich!
Pulp Science
Confused officials and perplexed bystanders in Mexico were greeted by a massive, shapeless pile of pulpy, greyish flesh back in 2016 after the jumble washed ashore on an Acapulco beach. Everyone wanted answers. Experts explained that mystery masses such as this one are the decaying heads of sperm whales, not piles of garbage.
Siberian Snowballs
On a coastline in Siberia, the beaches were recently blanketed by something unexpected...several thousand orb-like snowballs! They ranged in sizes from that of a small tennis ball to nearly 1 meter (3 feet) in diameter. Though this is a natural phenomenon, it is quite rare. Long-time residents in the area reported that this was their first experience seeing it!
Ice Balls
Hefty ice boulders as huge as basketballs and weighing over 50 pounds were spotted in clusters along the northeastern coast of Lake Michigan in 2013. Ice balls like these start out just as bits of slush and ice crystals but become shaped like they are by the rolling motion of waves close to shore. Talk about making a snowball!
Liver Lost
Shield your eyes, you're looking at a gruesome marine “crime scene” that had played out on the beaches of South Africa. There, scientists discovered the ragged remains of four great white sharks that were all missing their liver organs. Orcas were the prime suspects, as they are known to occasionally prey on great whites, but still...
Rusted Weaponry
Hands up! This old, rusted pistol was discovered on the beach. It was believed to be an old war pistol, but researchers are still trying to nail down its make and model to decide when and where it could possibly be from. Luckily, it looks pretty out of commission for the time being.
Fish Head
No, you aren't looking at a demon from the underworld...or maybe you are. This is the head of a terrifying sea creature was found washed up on a beach. With gnarly teeth like these, we’re glad this creature was found dead and not alive. Who knows what that could have looked like...
Bottle Messaging
Found in Galveston, Texas, this message in a bottle didn't just float into the great abyss. The lucky finder didn’t just get a years-old note, but a few small gifts from the person who threw it in the water, like a bracelet that the sender claims can be very lucky.
The Final Frontier
Do you ever wonder what happens to those space shuttles that land in the ocean? The people get out alive fairly easily, but what about the broken pieces? Here, one person spotted part of a space shuttle that fell into the sea off the coast of Costa Rica. Hey, at least it ended up with the other ships!
A Plane Underwater
Yep, you're not imaging things. That really is an underwater airplane! This P-38 plane was discovered on a beach in the country of Wales and was somehow perfectly intact. This was great for police, who could conduct a full investigation to figure out why it went down in the first place.
Handy Dandy
You've got to hand it to whoever took this photo, this is pretty remarkable! A fake hand was once uncovered on a coastline in Staten Island, New York. It looks like it was stolen right from the set of a sci-fi thriller—maybe one that was set at the beach.
Sailing Blue
Beachgoers on the western coast of the United States in 2014 were confronted by several miles of squishy blue animals resembling jellyfish, but each was topped with a rigid structure like that of a sail. Each of these tiny organisms, titled “by-the-wind sailors,” measures about 7 centimeters (2.75 inches) long. Every so often, storm activity can bring them toward coastal regions, where they pile up on shores in large quantities.
Lumpy Sea Creature
On July 13, one confused Reddit user shared photos of a peculiar lumpy sea creature on a California beach that they believed resembled “an organ. Marine biologists weighed in on this description and told Live Science that it could be a type of sea slug (pictured here) or maybe even a limpet.
Big Squid
Enormous squids that dwell in the deep ocean are rarely seen by humans, usually for good reason. If they are it's because they died and washed up on land, like this spooky giant squid, the largest invertebrate. In October of 2013, the sizable beast showed up on the La Arena beach in Cantabria, Spain. It was 30 feet in length and weighed about 400 pounds...
Water Games
Anyone want to play a round of Mario Kart? This photographer discovered an NES system with a game still stuck in it washed up on the beach. Clearly someone had a different idea of how their beach games were going to go...
Key to the Sea
Does anyone know if Davey Jones lost the key to his locker? An old rusted key was found on a beach in Bizerte, Tunisia. Though no one knows what exactly it unlocked, there have been some theories. Among the best of them? An old pirate key!
Fossil Future
Part of an 80-million-year-old fossil thighbone was discovered in a marine rock on Washington’s San Juan Islands. This provided the first evidence that dinosaurs once roamed the area. Paleontologists found the femur when they were looking for fossilized signs of other extinct animals, and the rock was so tough that it took a whole day to get the fossil out.
Drifting Driftwood
This massive piece of driftwood was found at the beach. This man stood next to the massive tree trunk shaped thing to show how big it was scaled. An old Redwood made its way in the ocean and ended up here, where luckily, not one person was injured. What a lucky break!
A Little Starfish
Someone call Patrick Star because someone just found his little brother! This cute little starfish was discovered on a beach in Alaska. It had washed ashore with the tide, and luckily, was still alive. Researchers who were out cleaning the beach found this little critter and returned him safely to the water.
A Snowy Mystery
Shores aren't always in warm climates. Fishermen from the Newfoundland’s Bay of Islands were flummoxed with this critter – a 15-foot-long creature which was missing a head, but did have a 10-foot-long tail. Officials of Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans still haven’t identified this creature, even though it was first found in February of 2010.
The Real-Life Blob
On October 28, 2009, the people of Temuka, a small island on the eastern coast of New Zealand’s South Island, found quite a creature. With eyes and tentacles on both sides of the beached creature, witnesses might have thought that it was an alien, but researchers said that the scary blob was actually the top of a sperm whale’s head.
A Stuffy Sturgeon
Residents who found this animal tail washed-up on South Carolina’s Folly Beach in March 2012 may have felt like they were stuck in the Pirates of the Caribbean film. The truth might actually have been equally impressive: a local vet identified the thing as an Atlantic sturgeon, an ancient animal that could grow as long as 15 feet and weigh as much as 800 pounds.
Shark Teeth
Open wide! Scientists believe that this pointy mouthed creature may have inspired several mythological and folk tales about eerie underwater serpentine monsters. In actuality though, it’s a deep-sea kind of shark found near the Lakes Entrance off southeastern Victoria, Australia, in January 2015. Either way, maybe stay away from this guy.
Spore Shores
On August 3, 2011, on the shores of Northwestern Alaska, billions of tiny orange spores overran the town beaches. Scientists later identified the surprise spores as native terrestrial, and they were actually fungal spores from a type of plant rust. It kind of gives off a nice glow though...
Pig Roast
On July 25, 2012, the New York Daily News reported that a photographer by the name of Denise Ginley and her boyfriend were taking a stroll along the East River when they spotted this gnarly-looking pig thing on a stretch of beach underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. The Parks Department claimed that the creature was a discarded cooked pig. Dinner, anyone?
King of the Kingfish
These fishes are worthy of a double-take because of their insane size and stature. These are actually a well-known but rarely seen species called one of three things: moonfish or sunfish or kingfish. This particular one was spotted off the coast of San Diego and may have weighed as much as 100 lbs. Look at that foot for scale!
Too Many Creatures
Perhaps it was a horse, perhaps it was a dog. Some say it could have been a badger. Whatever it is, this poor beast was pretty destroyed when it was seen on the coast of Tenby, Wales in 2013. The carcass had several seemingly unique characteristics which made identifying the thing difficult. No one knows for sure, what do you think it is?
Purple Creature
One of the least scary encounters you could have is from these creatures that are actually sea snails. These guys commonly blow ashore after a big storm in the warm and tropical climates. They dwell near or on the surface of the water and have a beautiful blue sheen. They're not a rare find, but certainly a beautiful one.
Lover's Rock
Soulmate are you out there, and do you need a rock? A shrine of stones marked with people’s hopes and dreams was discovered on a coastline in Oakville. When beachgoers visit this area, they take a stone and leave behind a wish or a dream, hoping that one day, they will come true. Why wish on a star when a rock could work just as well?
Icy Land
Huge glaciers of ice washed ashore on the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. While typically cold, the ice of this size was pretty inexplicable. Scientists believe that global warming was the culprit at large, as giant chunks of glaciers are breaking off and showing up on different beaches around the world. Hotter summers and colder beaches...
Carcass Creeps
Suddenly, the game of snake doesn't feel all that fictionalized. This 30-foot decomposing carcass of a marine animal was discovered by a man and woman on a date on the beaches in Scotland. What is this creature, you ask? Who knows, but it sure is creepy.
Montauk Monster
Well, this thing is super gross, whatever it is. From the beaches of Long Island, it washed up as the first of maybe three different ones reported. These “Montauk Monsters” appeared in 2008. The scientific consensus on the origins of the creature concludes that it is a raccoon, but some don't believe the verdict. The carcass mysteriously disappeared soon after…
Beach Bomb
These kids thought they were playing with an old buoy, or maybe some kind of weird giant seashell. It was neither of these fun beach things though because it actually turned out to be an unexploded bomb from World War II! Hopefully, someone took care of this giant problem waiting to happen.
Space Ship
Houston, do you copy? This strange-looking object isn't just a broken ship, it's a broken spaceship! Fallen debris from the crashed SpaceX Falcon 9 to be precise. It was later found on the shore at Elbow Bay in the Bahamas, only a few months after the Falcon had initially crashed.
Sluggish Seas
These slimy, purple colored blobs of the ocean were initially found off the coast of California. They are not rocks, though they look like them. They are actually sea hares (a.k.a. sea slugs). It's hard to imagine this is a living creature and not just a blob of ocean slime, but that's what it is!
Timeless Tooth
A prehistoric shark was the owner of this fossilized tooth. It was found along a beach on the coast of North Carolina. It’s estimated that the shark it belonged to existed thousands of years ago. It was likely about 60 feet long. Luckily, these beasts aren’t in our oceans today, but some scarier ones are...
The Oarfish
Oar you sick of seeing fish yet? This one is a rare, 200-pound, 15-foot oarfish that was seen on the beach at Santa Catalina Island in California. The Oarfish is the longest of all fish. It is often found in all temperate to tropical oceans yet rarely seen.
A Diamond Dive
Keep your ring close at all times or this could be you! This married woman lost her wedding ring in the ocean, but it was later found by a generous stranger at Shell Beach who returned it fully intact. He was able to get the ring back to her by posting it to a ring finder website. That's one lucky love!
An Eerie Figurine
Does anyone else get voodoo vibes from this creepy statue? This weird hybrid mouse-kangaroo toy washed up on the shores of Dead Horse Bay, Brooklyn. Much like its name, strange items frequently wash ashore here, but at least no one discovered a dead horse in Dead Horse Bay...
Coffee Shores
Beachgoers of Indialantic, Florida had quite the wake-up call one day, but it wasn't from a cup of coffee. Instead, it was from a whole beach full! They were pleasantly surprised to find thousands of vacuum-sealed cans of Cafe Bustelo coffee washed ashore. This was one high attention beach clean-up, and a caffeinated day at the beach.
Black Goop Beach
What kind of goop is this? When mysterious clumps of black tar washing ashore caused officials to temporarily close Manhattan Beach, California, the mess had to be cleaned up as fast as possible. This was most likely the outcome of a bad tar leak that ended up in the ocean, possibly from a ship that had a lifechanging accident...
Whale Vomit
Yes, it's true, this cool rock is actually just whale barf. The chunk is called ambergris and is highly valuable, often used in perfumes. It was found by a dog walker and sold for a whopping $16,253 at an auction. Next time you decide to douse yourself in perfume, just remember you're also employing just a little bit of whale vomit...gross!
Ship Saved
Some ships wreck, but some stay the same. An old abandoned ship was revealed after many years under the sea when a flash storm washed it ashore in Navagio Bay in Greece. It was almost entirely intact, which was quite the gift to historians who wanted a better look into the past.
Ocean Junk
There's an old saying that there are always other fish in the sea...well are those the fish dumping all this litter? An online blogger made a rather elegant arrangement of trash she found that had washed ashore, organized nicely by color. Now that’s one way to make cleaning up litter look a little more appealing, it's so pretty. Almost as pretty as a seashell...
Skate Fish Eggs
As Avril Lavigne once sang, he was a skater fish, she said see you later fish! These strange little pointy objects are actually the egg cases for the creature known as a skate fish, which is a member of the stingray family. They are sometimes referred to as “mermaid purses.” Did anyone drop their bag?
Seaside Spear
Don't get too close, you might get hit! This prehistoric spearhead is estimated to have been in use sometime between 10,000 and 11,000 years ago. The weapon was discovered washed up on a shoreline near Seaside Heights, New Jersey. Imagine if the Jersey Shore cast was using these...
Coastguard
Aye, aye, captain! A Canadian coast guard hat was discovered, completely encrusted by coral and barnacles, on a beach in Ireland. Once the barnacles were cleared off, you could still find the coat of arms. Turns out you can keep the captain from the sea, but not the sea from the captain!
Illegal Finds
Not everything washing ashore is innocent, as much as those fish would like you to believe. These bags might not look like much, but inside there are a ton of highly illegal narcotics. They were estimated to be worth around $175,000, were found on a beach near Galveston Island, Texas. That’s one way to slip across the border...
Dainty Seahorse
This small seahorse washed ashore, beached by the high tide, and was found by a kindhearted beachgoer. Unfortunately, the tiny animal didn’t survive, but this tourist got a cool little souvenir. Under the sea just blew out of the ocean...
Sea Rafts
found on beaches along the southern coast of the United States, thousands of these weird little critters washed ashore. They’re better known to scientists as “sea rafts” and although they look quite like the highly poisonous Portuguese man o’ war, these little guys are harmless to humans and sea creatures alike. And they're kinda cute!
Sick Sea Turtle
Look in this turtle's eyes if you want to catch a broken heart. The old sea turtles were discovered in Long Beach, Washington. Due to hypothermia, they were in pretty bad shape, but thankfully they were easily nursed back to health after being transferred to the Newport Aquarium. Now they're thriving in their new aquatic life in the public eye.
Human Hands
Though you might wish this one was a joke, it's most certainly very real. A bag with 27 pairs of human hands was found washed ashore on Amur River island. No one knows who did this or why, but police have been checking the fingerprints hoping to solve the case. As for now though, that mystery is out of their hands...
Lego Bricks
Let go of these legos! Over 4.8 million LEGO bricks washed ashore after a cargo ship went overboard. All 62 shipping containers perished in the wreck, and since the accident in 1997, the bricks have been slowly washing to the shores of the UK. So that's where all those missing pieces end up...
E.T Floats Home
When Margaret Wells was robbed in 2011, the biggest loss was her E.T replica. A few months later, he washed up on the shores of the United Kingdom. Wells commented when she got it back, "There's only one in the whole of England and that is mine. I always knew E.T. would come home."
Love Letters from WWII
Love knows no bounds, no limits, no oceans except the one it gets lost in. After Hurricane Sandy, these heartfelt love letters washed up on New Jersey beaches. Dorothy Fallon and Lynn Farnham exchanged the letters when he was in the war. After finding the owner, the finder learned that the couple had eventually gotten married.
Ducks Ashore
Sure, ducks are supposed to be in the water, but these kinds of ducks? Not so much. In 1992, a shipping container fell into the sea and sank into the ocean blue. What was inside those doors? Thousands of rubber ducks. These little guys have been spotted in Hawaii, Alaska, South America, Australia, the Pacific Northwest, and even the Arctic.
Miami Mine
Once, in Miami, a Navy training mine was discovered on the shores of Florida. The MK-47 was awed at by onlookers but warned against by officers. Once they realized what it was, a Navy team arrived to take it to a Navy base in Fort Lauderdale. No one is sure how exactly it broke loose in the first place, but thankfully it didn't hurt anyone in the process.