What is the ‘mysterious spiral-shaped stuff’ that’s washing up on Florida beaches?
SANIBEL, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida beachgoers are raising their eyebrows after an influx of strange and “mysterious spiral-shaped stuff” started washing up along the shorelines from Sanibel to Marco Island.
Social media sleuths began posting photos of the questionable-looking matter, trying to figure out what’s covering the beaches.
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“I was wondering if it was like from an eel or something,” Jaden Morton, who was visiting Lighthouse Beach with her mother, told NBC affiliate WBBH. “It stood out to me because I’ve never seen them before. I’ve been to the beach my whole life…”
However, the mysterious objects aren’t all that mysterious.
According to WBBH, the “spiraled-shaped stuff” nicknamed “mermaid necklaces” is a “very familiar phenomenon” to Southwest Floridians.
Cape Coral resident Karen Wappler, an avid shell collector, told WBBH that she knew the objects were casings for a whelk.
“I knew that it was a casing for a whelk. There’s eggs in there before it dries out. I didn’t really know until I googled it,” Wappler said. She uses the shells she collects to make art.
Whelk egg casings begin to pop up on Florida’s beaches as spring nears. According to WBBH, they usually wash in after a storm or are visible at low tide.
Joel Caouette, an environmental biologist with the City of Sanibel’s natural resources department, said the city gets tons of calls from people confusing the casings for snakeskin or algae every year.
“Just like any mollusk, they’re in the breeding season or the nesting season,” Caouette told WBBH. “These are harmless and not unusual. A female lightning whelk will start laying eggs, the egg casings get larger and larger, as they go up and eventually snap off.”
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Researchers at the University of Florida say adult whelks lay eggs in a connected series of 50 to 175 disc-shaped capsules. The string of capsules can be more than 2 feet long, with each disc containing up to 200 eggs.
While each disc may hold a large sum of eggs, only a portion of them typically hatch. WBBH reported that if beachgoers look closely and hold the casing up to the light, they might be able to see if the casings still have eggs.
Caouette told WBBH that if an active casing is thrown back into the water, the eggs have a better chance of survival. If left along the shore, the casings “can be a delicious snack for the migratory birds.”
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