Intriguing Translucent Find on Oregon Beach a Bit of a Mystery

Published 10/05/2012

(Neskowin, Oregon) – It could be rare – or it could be really, really rare. (Photos by John Forsythe of Neskowin)

A freaky find of something worm-like on the north Oregon coast has the experts a bit puzzled, but signs are pointing to it being a fairly rare occurrence.

John Forsythe, owner of Proposal Rock Inn in the tiny little town of Neskowin, found a couple of worm-like critters on the beach this week and had no clue what they were. Describing them as two to two and a half inches long and a bit translucent, he asked Oregon Coast Beach Connection about them.

The question was passed onto Seaside Aquarium and their education specialist Tiffany Boothe, who is more familiar with living creatures from the beach.

“I think it might be an egg capsule from a squid,” Boothe said.

She wasn't sure, however, as it was hard to tell from the photographs. If it had circles in it and was translucent then chances were better it was indeed from a squid. Indeed it did have these characteristics, Forsythe confirmed.

This would be a remarkable and rather rare find, Boothe said.

“To find them (if they are egg capsules from a squid) on the beach is quite unique,” Boothe said. “We have found clusters of these egg capsules on the beach in Seaside before but it is a rare occurrence (only twice in the last eleven years). When we have found them it has been after a large upwelling has left the beach littered with marine debris.”

The problem with identifying them further is that usually squid eggs are bigger and sit tied together in larger clusters.

Consequently, Boothe wasn't completely ready to completely confirm it was indeed this rare find.

“I can only say it could be squid eggs,” Boothe said. “That's as far as I'm willing to confirm.”

In the end, she admitted it's still a bit of a mystery – as she wasn't there and she's only looking at photographs.

Forsythe found them near the ghost forest – another intriguing mystery of Neskowin in the form of trees that are about 2000 years old and were remarkably well preserved beneath the sands. He said the worm-like critters were gone the next day, presumably washed back out to sea.

The Seaside Aquarium had some luck raising the squid eggs on one occasion a few years ago.

“We were able to put these into salt water and allowed the eggs to incubate until they naturally hatched.,” Boothe said. “For a short while we had hundreds of little tiny squids.”

For lodging listings on the Oregon coast see further down this page. More images of Neskowin and its ghost forest are below.

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