The items you may stumble upon at the beach are usually nothing out of the ordinary. Apart from seashells, dead corals, and algae that washed ashore, you may also find rocks, pebbles, and, unfortunately, litter.
However, some people come across interesting finds that you won’t see during a typical day by the ocean. We’re talking about oddly colored sea creatures, jewelry from eons ago, and eroded parts from what appears to be an ancient sea vessel, among many others.
We’ve collected these images from the different corners of Reddit. Scroll through and upvote those that catch your eye!
#1 Hanging Out At The Beach
Image credits: CharlieDarwin2
#2 7 Lb Piece. This Behemoth Came Out Of Lake Erie In March Of 2024. Prior To Finding This I Had Never Collected Sea Glass But Now It's A Hobby For My Wife And I
Image credits: PresentTime8955
#3 Was Walking On The Beach For Some Exercise And This Tough Guy Beach Bully Decided That I Was Trespassing On His Territory
Image credits: zytukin
Since the planet is made up of 70% water, it’s inevitable for things to end up in the ocean. A 2020 study painted a picture, revealing an estimated 23 metric tons of plastic waste in waterways in 2016.
These figures likely do not include the 28,000 rubber duckies that fell into the Pacific Ocean in 1992. The kiddie toys came from a freighter that capsized while traveling from China to America after being caught in a storm.
#4 There's An Exposed Coal Seam In The Cliff At My Local Beach
Image credits: tim---mit
#5 Not Something You Find On The Beach Everyday
Image credits: JazzlikeSpare9
#6 Abandoned Houses In Mirlo Beach, A Once Thriving Oceanfront Town On North Carolina's Outer Banks
Image credits: zb0t1
A similar incident occurred in 1997, when a cargo ship carrying five million LEGO bricks capsized off the southwest coast of England. The sea vessel was traveling from Rotterdam to New York and lost all 62 shipping containers.
The incident, more infamously known as the Great LEGO Spill, is deemed the “single largest toy-related environmental disaster in history. Many experts claim that people continue to find LEGO pieces to this day.
#7 I Found A Door (And Nothing Else) On An Abandoned Beach
Image credits: elastizitat
#8 Dropped My iPhone On A Beach And The Magsafe Case Attracted Titanomagnetite From The Black Sand
Image credits: sendintheclouds
#9 35 Rings Found On The Beach
Image credits: Meprado
Finding plastic toys in the ocean is one thing, but what if you stumble upon something so strange-looking that it causes panic in you? This is what happened in 2019, when a mysterious-looking orb washed up on the shores of East London.
Police initially suspected it to be an unexploded bomb and called on inspectors to investigate. But upon closer look, it turned out to be a giant Christmas bauble.
#10 Mother And Girlfriend Found This On The Beach Today. Any Idea What It Is?
geared4war:
Dofleinia armata, the armed anemone. Also called the striped anemone.
Image credits: Horrorwolfe
#11 I Found This Small Chunk Of Driftwood On The Beach, However I’ve Never Seen One Like This Before. Apparently, It's A Burl
Image credits: Jarveyy
#12 I Found A Bunch Of Baby Hermit Crabs Wrapped In Some Seaweed At The Beach
Image credits: MJGlocks
Due to the large number of discarded items that fall into the ocean, many experts have used them to track currents. In 2023, Kagoshima University Professor Shigeru Fujieda stipulated that disposable cigarette lighters could be an excellent tracking tool.
“Disposable lighters are one of the few types of marine litter that have evidence of their source, because they have printed information about the consuming country or city (e.g., point of sale address or telephone number),” Fujieda wrote in his paper published in the Regional Studies in Marine Science.
#13 These Things Washed Up On A Beach In East Australia, Anyone Know What It Is?
Redditor froguille replied:
"Blue glaucus (glaucus Atlanticus) I believe they're also called blue angels. Only reason I know is I used to research sea slugs and sea cucumbers during my high school study halls....."
User ActuallyAdrien added:
"All I can say is don't touch!"
Image credits: ThomasIFC
#14 This Washed-Up Jellyfish Looks Like An Iris
Image credits: bastardlyDan
#15 Sea Urchin Teeth I Found In Croatia Years Ago
Image credits: HesitantlyCobbler
According to research ecologist Andrew DeVogelaere, discarded items that wash up ashore can be removed. The problem arises when items like hazardous medical waste, for example, sink to the bottom of the ocean and become trapped there.
“We don’t even know the names of a lot of these things,” he told Popular Science. “We’re impacting a whole ecosystem that we don’t even understand.”
#16 My Amazing Find, The Sea Biscuit (Sea Urchin) I Didn't Know What It Was. As Always, Google Helped Me Out
Image credits: instaseaglass
#17 What Happens When You Have A Mix Of Very Cold Temperatures, Sand, Snow, And Tidal Water From The Ocean? Frozen Sand Slabs On The Ocean City Beach
Image credits: OceanCity.com
#18 Snow On The Beach In Florida
Image credits: SwinnieThePooh
#19 Found This Cool Bottle On A Beach In Raritan Bay
Image credits: Xenu4President
#20 Found This Little Guy While Working On The Beach. He'll Have A ~14ft Wingspan Within Two Years!
Image credits: Szechwan
#21 Found A Large Metallic Cylinder On The Beach Of Husavik, Iceland. What Is This?
We asked around and it turns out that these are submarine detectors, nothing to worry about, no explosive inside!
Image credits: TheRealWarrior0
#22 I Found This Thing On The Beach, But I Haven’t Seen Anything Like It In Real Life Or Online Before. It's A Pin Cushion Starfish
Image credits: bloop1boop
#23 Every So Often I’ll Come Upon A Lobster Tail That Is Empty But Still Glistening In The Sun
Image credits: beautifullyhurt
#24 Pacific Football Fish Washed Up At Oregon Beach. Only 31 Specimens Have Ever Been Documented
Image credits: guyoffthegrid
#25 I Found A Fossil At The Beach Today
Image credits: rejectedtuna
#26 What Is This Thing? Found On Jones Beach, NY, About 1.5-2 Inches At Widest Point
TheVambo:
European Water Chestnut (Trapa natans) seeds
Image credits: redratus
#27 Wife And I Found This Today. No Idea What Is, But We Are Stoked
Image credits: Lanky-Chard7828
#28 What Is This Fiber/Sand Ball? Found Among Thousands Like It On A Beach In Spain. It Weighs Almost Nothing
User 4-me responded:
"Sea grass ball - send me some"
BrightestHeart added:
"That's lovely. Aquatic tumbleweeds."
Image credits: ErikBech
#29 Sealed Glass Vial On The Beach
We found this small sealed glass vial with an orange liquid inside that had washed up on the beach in Scotland. Any ideas what it could be? Should I resist the urge to crack it open.
occasionalrant414:
It's in too good a condition to be, but it sort of looks like the acid ampoules the British used on limpet mines and other demolition munitions during WW2.
They worked by being put into the detonation system, then being crushed. The acid would eat through copper wire (different thickness of wire slowed down or sped up the time). Once the wire split, the detonator would trigger and bang.
The ones I saw, admittedly years and years ago, were a bit flatter? I saw them in a museum in Portsmouth back when I was at college - 20+yrs ago. They came in a impact resistant case.
Can't be, but looks similar.
Secret_Artist_8092:
The North Sea is full of WW2 weapons that were dumped.
Image credits: GlassHalfFullback
#30 Found This On A Beach In New Zealand- There Were Thousands Of Them At The High Water Mark. What Is It?
Anonymous:
it's a bluebottle.
didnt sting you because a lot of them lose their tentacles when theyre washed up. theyre pretty common.
it seems to be attached to some pebbles and a Vellela.
Image credits: goforajog
#31 Just Found This Tooth On The Beach
Image credits: Excellent_Example395
#32 In 9 Years Of Diving Venice Beach, FL. My Best Meg Tooth Appears, 4.25 Inches. Took Out My Regulator And Kissed It I Was So Happy. Judge Me Freely, Don’t Care
Image credits: Lizalfos13
#33 My Dog Found A Huge Bone At The Beach Today
Image credits: stellar6388
#34 Glass Beach, California
Image credits: Alaric_Darconville
#35 Found A Shark Egg In Santa Barbara
Image credits: Flushedawayfan2
#36 This Buoy From The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Recently Washed Up On The Shores Of Ireland
Image credits: reddit.com
#37 Flying Cruise Ships Illusion (Fata Morgana) Spotted Today 23/06/21 On The South East Shores Of Cyprus
Image credits: LSD25hoffmans-potion
#38 Found Skate Egg Pouch On The Beach
Image credits: Ceu_64
#39 Ichthyosaur Paddle Bone Which I Found On Charmouth Beach, UK
Image credits: No_Hawk8947
#40 I Found Whale Baleen On The Beach
Image credits: Mxzebraxdude
#41 Largest Seaweed Bulb I’ve Seen In The 15 Years I’ve Lived At The Beach
Image credits: StoneyJoJo
#42 Found Purple Crown Jellyfish On A Beach On Western India
Image credits: royal_stabber69
#43 Housemate Found This On The Beach By Our House In The South Of Ireland
Image credits: irseany
#44 This Piece Of A Whales Spinal Column That Washed Up On The Beach
Image credits: Scaramuccia
#45 Sitting On The Beach When This Monster Floats By
Image credits: MrSlumpy
#46 What’s Left Of This Chimney On The Beach
Image credits: TheSolarHero
#47 This Really Intrigued Me. The Sand And Shells Were Embedded Into The Mask As The Ocean Integrated The Mask Into Its’ World
Image credits: jenscantvienneau
#48 The Beaches Here In The Netherlands Have Free Sunscreen Dispensers
Image credits: BigBosslalilulelo
#49 Quicksand Swallows Man At Lake Michigan Beach
Image credits: mlivesocial
#50 I Found A Whale Skull At The Beach With No Other Bones Around It
Image credits: NightIINight
