Imagine walking along Fremantle's South Beach and coming across what looks like a human tongue buried in the sand.
Pinkish in colour, the little creature was found by a beach-goer on Saturday and was posted to social media for locals to identify.
A string of theories emerged in the comments. Suggestions ranged from the infamous Tooheys Extra Dry tongue, an ox-tongue mushroom or the severed genitals of an unfortunate South Beach sunbather.
But WA Museum Head of Aquatic Zoology Dr Jane Fromont identified the specimen, and it wasn't as exciting as some locals had suggested.
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"It is an ascidian or sea squirt," she said.
"This particular specimen is a colonian ascidian- meaning that it has numerous individuals within the dark pink oval jelly casing seen in the image. Each little whitish flower like shape indicates an individual," Dr Fromont said.
Department of Fisheries principal biosecurity scientist Dr Justin McDonald also agreed the funny-looking creature was a sea squirt, and said it had been in the process of going into hiding when its photo was taken.
"When you disturb the animal they retract and close their openings and essentially start to shrivel up – the colonial ascidian has retracted but not yet shrivelled."
Sea squirts are common along the West Australian coast, but Dr Fromont said she could not tell what specific species the animal was by the photograph.