5 mysterious beaches in the world

1. Dragon Egg Beach

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Dragon Egg Beach may sound like something out of a fantasy movie, but it is a real place in New Zealand and a popular tourist destination.

There is a stretch of Koekohe Beach that is dotted with large, spherical boulders. These boulders called Moeraki formed 60 million years ago from concretions of mud, clay, and calcite. The boulders are full of erratic cracks, which, once exposed, can break open to give the boulders the look of hatching eggs.

2. Parrotfish Poop Beach

Parrotfish live in reefs and feed on the coral in Hawaii. The fish eat algae that live on the reef but cannot digest them so it crushes the tough calcium carbonate, and when it passes out of the digestive tract, it is like sand. A single parrotfish can produce up to 360 kilograms (800 lb) of sand each year.

3. Bioluminescent Beaches

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Mosquito Bay in Puerto Rico can glow with their own light—called bioluminescence. Because it takes energy for them to glow, they only produce light in certain conditions. When these conditions are met, they can light up an entire beach.

4. Hot water beach

On the Coromandel Peninsula, people dig their own hot water spa. Hot Water Beach in New Zealand has one of the most literal geographic names in the world. When the tide goes out, water can be seen bubbling up from the sand. This water is hot. An underground river is warmed by geothermal heat that comes close to the surface here.

5. Hidden Beach

Algar de Benagil is a natural hole worn into the rock of the cliffs by the tides. In the tiny space left behind, a beach has formed. The hole in the roof of the cave acts as an oculus which lets daylight into the secluded, sandy beach.