Hundreds of parasite creatures which were the inspiration for the film Alien have washed up off the Kerry coast.
A string of the eerie-looking parasites called Phronima - which bear an uncanny resemblance to the alien which burst out of John Hurt’s chest in the iconic movie - have been discovered on Ventry Beach outside Dingle.
The creatures - which eat barrel jellyfish from the inside out and ride around in their corpse – are an extremely rare find in Ireland as they normally float around the deepest part of the oceans.
Director of Dingle Oceanworld, Kevin Flannery, said they have been keeping more than a dozen of the Phronima parasites alive in the Kerry Aquarium.
“It is the creature that Ridley Scott used in Aliens. What these creatures do is find a barrel jellyfish and go inside and eat them from the inside out and use the barrel of the jellyfish to survive and be carried along through the ocean. They have the alien head and claws. Then the female lays her eggs inside in the poor barrel jellyfish.”
He said they are closely observing the parasites which have laid their young in the jellyfish corpse.
“We have them still alive in the aquarium. You can see them moving inside but they have devoured the inside of the barrel jellyfish.
"The jellyfish are eaten alive. That is how Ridley Scott developed the story for the Alien movies - both the story of eating inside out and also the creature itself. The sea water flows through the barrel and they get the plankton and can survive. It’s very clever.”
The Phronima. Picture: Domnick Walsh, Eye Focus LTD
He said it is extremely rare to find them in Ireland.
“They are out in the middle, deep oceans. It is very unusual. They are very rare.
"To see them living and see the close-up of the head of the fish which inspired the alien is very interesting.”
