Beachgoer finds 'alien creature' covered in tentacles during Papamoa beach walk in Bay of Plenty NZ

A beachgoer on her morning walk was left stunned by a huge 'alien' log covered in tentacles.

Kyley Morman was both astonished and revolted by what she found on Papamoa beach in New Zealand's Bay of Plenty last week.

'Came across this on Pap Beach... Had worm-like tentacles and living creatures in the shells,' she wrote on social media. 

'Was amazing but kinda gross at the same time.'

The bizarre find about five-metres long is thought to be a gooseneck barnacle called Lepas anatifera - which when translated from Latin means they usually live in waters far away from shore.

A beachgoer on her morning walk was left stunned by a huge 'alien' log covered in tentacles 

Wilma Blom, a marine invertebrate curator at Auckland Museum, told New Zealand's Stuff that recent north easterly winds had brought them onshore.

Although the creatures are often eaten, particularly by Mediterranean cultures, Ms Blom said 'I have never eaten them myself.' 

'They are sometimes washed up on beaches when the object to which they are attached washes up on the beach, but they do not live there,' Associate Professor Ian Tibbetts from the University of Queensland told Yahoo News Australia.

'They attach to floating objects in the open ocean where they filter feed on plankton,' he said, adding that they can also attach themselves to dolphins and sea turtles.

A Facebook user said the huge log looks like a 'Breakfast bar for the seagulls gifted by Mother Nature.'

Kyley Morman was both astonished and revolted by what she found on Papamoa beach in New Zealand's Bay of Plenty last week 

'Kinda sad though at the same time. All those living organisms will die out of the water...' 

Another person said 'I saw this and was going to post it but thought it would of been something normal that everyone already knew about.

A similar 'tentacle' covered log washed up on Greenhills Beach in Sydney's Sutherland Shire last July.

Vicki Hansen, who came across the log while walking her dog on the beach, compared finding it to a scene from the supernatural TV show Stranger Things.