A pre-juvenile western brook lamprey was undoubtedly the most unexpected thing I have ever discovered on a beach.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/236813662.
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Ruddy Turnstone when I was trying to look for a Red Knot in Monterey, California.
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This entire dead deer I found on a beach in NY was pretty unexpected. I was looking for dead animals to observe, and this was by far the biggest one I found. Not really sure what happened to her, I think it was hunting season at the time so maybe she was a deer someone shot, and she got away and reached the beach.
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I once saw a dead whale of some kind (likely gray whale) washed up on a river bank.
I recently found a starfish with extra arms! It had seven instead of five!
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That’s definitely not your average beach find! A seal during hunting season? Maybe she was trying to blend in with the wrong crowd. I hope those hunters know the difference between a deer and a sea mammal!
Twice I’ve found large dead fish on the beach.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/72022192
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/166147059
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Interesting. Any idea what kind it was?
I believe it is an ochre sea star. Thanks for asking.
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Wow, that’s awsome! I wonder why it has pink teeth.
They eat a lot of red urchins. It’s called echinochrome staining, it also gives some sea otters purple bones!
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This skull, which as far as I can tell may be an incomplete barracuda skull:
Or this chiton shell, since I had never heard of this thing before-
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