SCP-4159
rating: +143+x
sandbox.jpg

File photo of SCP-4159 in 2018.

Item #: SCP-4159

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: Public access to areas inhabited by SCP-4159 is to be heavily restricted between March and November under the guise of hooded plover bird nest re-introduction. These areas are to be monitored both remotely and by Foundation personnel posing as Parks Victoria rangers, and seaweed washed ashore is to be collected and incinerated daily. Populations of SCP-4159 are to be counted and monitored, with civilian inhabited areas nearby to be evacuated should significant numbers of SCP-4159 get too close and fail to be lured away or destroyed. Weather reports are to be monitored for storms at sea with a likelihood of bringing more specimens ashore.

A minimum of four specimens are to be kept contained within Site 40 for study, along with any notable specimens. Containment will be comprised of a standard wildlife containment cell with a steady supply of salt water.

Foundation personnel are advised not to come within 2 metres of SCP-4159 specimens, and to always work with partners to minimise the risk of injury.

Description: SCP-4159 are carnivorous organisms resembling large clumps of kelp endemic to several coastal regions in Victoria, Australia. The size of SCP-4159 can vary greatly1, but all specimens encountered have been composed of a mass of various connected lengths of kelp. Examination has shown no significant difference between the tissue of SCP-4159 and naturally occurring kelp species, leading to investigations into whether SCP-4159 is created from ordinary kelp or is an entirely different organism.

SCP-4159 inhabits shorelines, reefs, rock pools and shallow waters, with specimens adopting different behaviours in different environments, suggesting intelligence comparable to cephalopods. This behaviour includes, but is not limited to:

  • Laying in wait as an ambush predator among sand and mundane seaweed.
  • Active predation of slower moving prey such as sea turtles, seals and sleeping animals.2
  • The use of tools such as stones, nets and corpses, typically in a luring fashion.3
  • Bioluminescent hypnosis reminiscent of the hunting behaviour of many species of cuttlefish.
  • Structuring itself into limbs to grapple prey items.

Observation has shown that while SCP-4159 is slow moving, they are able to move silently and have proven to be exceptionally strong, with smaller specimens capable of subduing adult humans. Upon obtaining a prey item SCP-4159 typically suffocates or drowns it before moving to a secluded, damp location to digest it. it accomplishes this by what is thought to be a form of phagocytosis, enveloping the prey item in itself and slowly absorbing it over a period of hours, though larger individuals are able to digest nutrition faster by virtue of having more surface area with which to apply to the task.

The peak season for SCP-4159 is between late March and mid October, though this may vary based on the climate, with colder and stormier weather bringing specimens from deeper water, suggesting they may be dislodged from their warm water habitat by storms in a manner similar to non-anomalous kelp or even jellyfish. Monitoring of SCP-4159 populations' migratory habits has shown that each year they arrive and depart from the same direction, with recent analysis showing populations converging on an isolated reef located at -39.937113, 146.077304.4

Addendum SCP-4159-A: On 19/3/17, civilians reported the disappearance of their child, Nicholas McArthur, who was last seen riding his bicycle in the town of Kilcunda, Victoria. A police search of the area led to the discovery of McArthur's remains being consumed by an instance of SCP-4159 within a playground tube. Embedded Foundation agents soon dispatched a field team to establish a perimeter, with police units being amnesticised and returned to duty. The specimen was destroyed, and McArthur's remains were recovered.5 Examination of local CCTV footage shows Nicholas McArthur arriving at the playground at 15:30, playing on the swings, then entering the sandpit where the SCP-4159 specimen had disguised itself as a rudimentary sandcastle. The resultant attack incapacitated McArthur within 19 minutes, before retreating to the playground tube to ingest the victim. Later investigation was able to track the specimen to a creek several hundred metres away. This was the only known instance of SCP-4159 entering a freshwater environment, and one of the earlier instances of the usage of a sandcastle disguise.

Addendum SCP-4159-B

Incident 4159-44

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