Dog walkers puzzled after finding 'washed up brains' on Anglesey beach

The couple posted a photo of the sighting on Facebook, saying the lumps looked like "brains". Credit: John and Zara Kimbley-Henry

A couple have been left puzzled after discovering a long line of "brains" washed up on an Anglesey beach.

John and Zara, from the Art Quarter Gallery in Beaumaris, were out walking their dogs Alfie and Gypsy last Monday evening when they came across a section of Traeth Mawr in Aberffraw covered in lumps of white matter.

The couple posted a photo of the sighting on Facebook, saying the lumps looked like "brains".

Some commented saying it was just "sea foam", while others suggested they were "whelk egg capsules".

John and Zara came across lumps of white matter while walking their dogs on Traeth Mawr in Aberffraw. Credit: John and Zara Kimbley-Henry

The common whelk is the largest sea snail found in UK seas, and the dry balls of empty whelk capsules are often found washed up in strandlines.

According to The Wildlife Trust, whelk live on sandy seabeds below the low tide mark. They lay their eggs in a spongy mass of up to 2,000 egg capsules on the seabed. Once hatched, these balls of empty egg capsules often wash up on shore.

The mysterious sighting comes after a worm-like creature was spotted by a dog walker on Traeth Lligwy, near Moelfre, on Monday 3 April.

The creature was around 25cm long as a whole and on close inspection, had hundreds of tiny dots.

The small white dots inside the capsules are believed to be squid eggs. Squid eggs are normally anchored to the sea floor but can become loose and so wash-up on the shore.

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