While walk his dog along a beach north of Darwin , Australia , a man made a gruesome discovery , something that looked like a severed finger’s breadth . Yet when he took it to law , it turned out to be something much stranger : a species of plant no one has been able to discover .
Concerned that the finger come from a murder victim or one of the Northern Territory ’s ill-famed crocodile flak , the anon. man took the “ finger ” to Casuarina Police Station , where officeholder were split over whether they were carry on with human remains or something less concerning and more confusing .
" Casuarina General Duties played it dependable and handle it as though it were human corpse , ” Watch Commander Brendan Lindner allege on the force’sFacebook page . While waiting for the pathology results , debate continued to rage among officeholder who had seen the finger’s breadth , or just pic of it .
mention : NT Police . The " digit " in its full glorification .
The pathologist concluded that the disturbing " finger " is some variety of plant , but could not identify the species . " None of us on PG5 are botanists or maritime biologists , so the upright we can come up with isAlcyonium digitatum , otherwise have it off as dead man ’s finger , " said Lindner .
Despite its evocative name , drained man ’s fingers seems an unlikely defendant . A. digitatumwas report by Linnaeus himself , but the World Register of Marine Speciesonly commemorate itin the North Atlantic and Mediterranean – a very long way from northern Australia . Moreover , A. digitatumis a soft coral , which despite their sedentary natureare still creature , not plant subject .
Unless more “ finger ” begin wash up on local beaches , the mystery may never be resolved . Since Darwin ’s constabulary force involve their job as arrest crime rather than adding to botanic noesis , they design to qualify of the specimen now that they have ruled out disgusting play . They have not yet responded to mesmerism that they broadcast the " finger " to a museum .
Update : As a result of significant public interst ( which we like to believe we contributed to ) Darwin police passed the specimen on to the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory ( MAGNT ) . “ It was examined by Dr Richard Willan and Ms Suzanne Horner and determined to be a dead sole sea spirt ( technically ring an ascidian or tunicate ) , a character of sea - dwelling animal native to the Darwin region , ” MAGNT reported .
Although ocean spirt are common to the reefs off Darwin , this one had been so damaged in the storm that started on New Year ’s Day that is looked very different from those normally washed ashore , lead to the confusedness . For the same reason Willan says it is not possible to identify the species . Tunicates come in very diverse form , including some that are more potential to bemistaken for rocksthan human anatomy . It is unclear whether paper that the diagnostician had find the specimen to be a works were a upshot of miscommunication from the police medium services or a consequence of short staffing over the summer break of serve .
H / TABC Northern Territory .
