{"id":427313,"date":"2026-02-15T16:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T16:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/427313\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T16:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T16:54:09","slug":"weird-blob-like-sea-creatures-wash-up-on-uk-beach-baffling-mum-and-daughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/427313\/","title":{"rendered":"Weird blob-like sea creatures wash up on UK beach baffling mum and daughter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A mother and daughter made an unusual discovery when walking on a Welsh beach leading to the involvement of an underwater expert.<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Picture of 4 or 5 blobby almost transparent tubular creatures nestled into a coffee cup. \" loading=\"eager\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_PAY-Ciona-intestinalis-found-on-Llanddona-beach-2.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"A mysterious creature has been found on a beach in Wales\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">A mysterious creature has been found on a beach in Wales(Image: Chloe Heuch \/ Media Wales)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">A mysterious jelly-like fish has been discovered by a mother litter picking with her daughter on a popular <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/lifestyle\/travel\/truth-benidorms-peacock-island-its-36721545\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">beach <\/a>in Wales.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Teacher and author Chloe Hench was helping to clean Llanddona beach in Anglesey beach of rubbish when she lifted a coffee cup off the sand to discover the unusual <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/tv\/tv-news\/masked-singer-2026-winner-moth-36723348\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">creatures <\/a>hiding there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">She recalled the moment, saying: &#8220;The <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/lifestyle\/food-drink\/keep-blueberries-fresh-longer-storage-36719229\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">plastic <\/a>lid was upside down in the wet sand \u2013 it looked as though it had been dropped. I picked it up to put it in the bin not realising realised there were creatures inside.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">At first, the mother and daughter duo, who were confused but intrigued by their discovery, presumed the odd, sci-fi looking blobs were sea slugs but later realised that they were wrong.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Chloe said: I was a bit surprised by their weirdness. My daughter touched one gently as she didn\u2019t believe me they were alive, and it sort of shrank into itself a bit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE: <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" data-tmdatatrack=\"read-more\" data-tmdatatrack-articleid=\"36722517\" data-tmdatatrack-source=\"editorial\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/lifestyle\/american-man-uk-issues-four-36722517\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">American man in the UK issues four-word verdict after trying cheese in Cheddar<\/a><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Picture of 4 or 5 blobby almost transparent tubular creatures nestled into a coffee cup. \" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_PAY-Ciona-intestinalis-found-on-Llanddona-beach-1.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"The jelly-like blobs were found nesting in a discarded coffee cup lid by the mother and daughter \" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">The jelly-like blobs were found nesting in a discarded coffee cup lid by the mother and daughter (Image: Chloe Heuch \/ Media Wales)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">It was only when Chloe posted a picture of the animals to social media that an underwater photographer was able to shed some light on what the pair had really found.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The expert explained that jelly-like creatures are in fact sea-squirts, more specifically a large type called Ciona intestinalis, a species popular in shallow waters around the UK, according to reports by <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailypost.co.uk\/news\/north-wales-news\/anglesey-beach-litter-picker-left-33416173\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">North Wales Live<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The soft, almost translucent tubular shaped organisms can grow as long as 20cm and although they may look harmless, they are considered an invasive species and can cause harm to the local ecosystems.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The photographer explained the nature of the sea creatures as &#8220;opportunistic colonisers&#8221; that settle on almost any surface they can &#8220;hasn\u2019t got something else growing on it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8216;They\u2019re much prettier when expanded and filter feeding. Totally harmless but can aggregate in huge quantities,&#8221; they added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Chloe and her daughter took pity on the creatures but decided to leave them be in their coffee cup home, event if it meant leaving a piece of litter on the beach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;I left it where it was, which I felt bad about, but I didn\u2019t want to upset them&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;They did seem very happy. There were a few of them in that tiny space!&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A mother and daughter made an unusual discovery when walking on a Welsh beach leading to the involvement&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,1220,4407],"class_list":["post-427313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wales","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}