British beachgoers were almost convinced they were in an episode of Netflix hit Stranger Things after a creepy-looking sea creature washed up on the shore.
Found on Bennar beach near Dyffryn Ardudwy in Gwyneed, the other-worldly looking creature was compared to the Demogorgon from the show.
The creature has around eight worm-like arms, with barnacle shells at the end – and could definitely make small children cry.
READ MORE: Clueless paddle boarder stalked by shark in nerve-wracking drone footage
It was found by Shell Longmore, North Wales Live reports.
She said: “The stuff of nightmare’s. That’s what it is.
“I thought I had seen all the local wildlife until I found this – it was a massive shock!
(Image: Shell Longmore)
“It was a strange-looking creature but also very beautiful.”
However, rather than being something from the Upside Down, it was actually a Gooseneck barnacle, and is known as a delicacy in many countries.
It can be exported to many in Spain and Portugal for around £300 per kilo, but usually requires specialist fisherman to grab them known as Percebeiros.
One user on Facebook told Shell to take advantage of the finding.
They wrote: “Pick them up, sell them or eat them!.
“Apparently they are lovely and are really expensive!”
(Image: Netflix)
The barnacle is also called the Stalked Barnacle, and have a strange place in Christianity.
According to Michael Allaby’s booked Animals: From Mythology to Zoology, the creatures was eaten on days when eating meat was forbidden centuries ago because it was seen as “neither flesh, nor born of flesh”.
Mr Allaby writes: “The confusion – for such it was – arose from the fact that the barnacle goose, which is a small black-and-white goose and most definitely a bird, visits the coastal fregions of Ireland and western Scotland in winter.
“In spring it migrates northward to breed in the Arctic.”
However, at that period in time, experts knew nothing about bird migration and we left with random gooseneck barnacles everywhere, which they assumed came from the birds.
To get more stories from Daily Star delivered straight to your inbox sign up to one of our free newsletters here.
READ MORE:
