Alien ship? Time capsule? Strange object found on New Zealand beach

Locals speculate on large object washed up on a beach on the North Island

Photograph: by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images
Photograph: by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images

A large object washed up on a beach in New Zealand has attracted international attention and left locals speculating as to what it could be.

Melissa Doubleday posted a photo of what she saw on the beach on the North Island to the Muriwai & Waimauku Area Community Group Facebook page, asking if anybody could identify it.

Suggestions came in the form of a Caribbean walrus, a sea monster’s dreadlocks, an alien pod time capsule and a beach Christmas tree.

However, the most likely explanation is that it is a large piece of driftwood covered in gooseneck barnacles, which are filter-feeding crustaceans that live attached to rocks and flotsam and are considered a delicacy in Spain, reports The Guardian.

READ MORE

On Monday, Ms Doubleday said that the object, which washed up on the beach on Saturday has “died now, and it smells really bad.”