The alarm was raised as scores of the slugs were found washed up on the beach this morning, with many people posting photos of the creatures and asking if they were dangerous.
“They are not dangerous to people on the beach, and they’re not dangerous to people in water,” confirmed Suphasit Boonpienpon, of the of Phuket Marine Biological Centre (PMBC).
“They’re just sea slugs, but I have no idea why they have washed up on the beach,” he said.
“And so far we have only received reports of them washing up here, at Kalama Beach,” he said on location early this afternoon.
Mr Suphasit said he and fellow researchers had collected specimens to analyse at the PMBC research centre.
“We also collected samples of the sea water. Hopefully, we will figure out why these slugs washed ashore specifically during this week,” he said.