A beautiful tourist spot has turned blood red after red algae filled with maggots have covered the beach in horrifying scenes.
Jervis Bay’s Hyams Beach in New South Wales, Australia, was covered in a thick blanket of red seaweed on Monday, March 7.
The beach – known to have the world’s whitest sand and pristine waters – was infested with maggots and had a “mild smell” according to a local resident.
Jayde Clark told the Daily Mail: “My husband and I go surfing out there all the time, so we wanted to see how the sets were rolling in, and then we saw that monstrosity.
(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
“We were completely in shock – in the whole 25 years my husband has lived here he has never seen anything like it.”
According to Dr Trudy Costa from the University of Wollongong’s School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, red algae washed up on the shore as a result of recent storms.
She told the South Coast Register: “This is called wrack. Wrack can be smelly if it sits there for a while but it is really important ecologically.
(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
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“As it breaks down, it delivers nutrients and food to the organisms that live in the sand underneath – this is their main source of food.”
Dr Costa said it was common for maggots and other organisms to live inside the algae, which then die once washed ashore.
Last week a man also in Australia came across an alien-looking creature that had appeared on the street following a massive downpour of rain.
Harry Hayes, who spotted the creature while our jogging, said: “My gut says it’s some kind of embryo but with Covid, WW3, and the floods [going on right now] this could very well be an alien.”
