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Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Jonathan Humphries & Joseph Wilkes & Nisha Mal

Shocked couple find rare sea creature 'worth £50,000' on the beach

A couple were in complete disbelief when they stumbled across a rare sea creature while taking a walk along the beach.

Martyn Green and his family, from New Brighton went on a weekend away near Caernarfon, where they spotted something that looked like a large piece of driftwood.

On closer inspection they realised it had thousands of tentacled creatures in shells.

The family took some pictures of the amazing and unusual looking creature, The Mirror reports.

He said: "My wife Gemma, she found it. We were walking on the beach and she called us and said 'come back, look at this'.

"We went and had a look and it looked like something not of this world.

"It was quite and attraction for the locals."

Martyn, 47, said his son Daniel searched on Google for answers and they soon realised the astonishing creatures were Goosenecked Barnacles, a rare specimen considered a delicacy, particularly in Portugal and Spain where they are known as percebes.

He said: "It turns out they are one of the most expensive sea creatures you can buy.

(Martyn Green/Liverpool Echo)

"From looking on Google I think it's about £25 each they go for, and on the log there were probably about 2,000 of them."

Martyn, who runs a marketing agency, said he did not want to reveal the exact location of the otherworldly sight to avoid opportunists flocking to the scene and destroying it.

Martyn's fears are not unfounded, as there have been reports of fishermen in Galicia, northeastern Spain, risking death to harvest the creatures and illegal and violent groups muscling in.

At prices reaching 360 euros a kilo in peak times, the barnacles are a lucrative find, despite their hideous appearance.

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