Seriously, what the hell is this thing?

Whatever it is, it randomly washed up on a beach in Texas City, Texas as a result of Hurricane Harvey.

It has baffled experts ever since Preeti Desai, who works for the National Audubon Society, asked ‘biology Twitter’ what the animal was when she posted photos online.

The lump is believed to have been some kind of eel – but with its teeth showing in one image, it has the appearance of a deep sea creature that should have no business being near the surface.

Ms Desai said: ‘We were on a beach in Texas City and saw this thing from afar so I got closer to figure out what it was.

the deep sea to me.

‘My initial thought was it might be a sea lamprey but when I got close I realized there was no way that was what it was, particularly based on the mouth.

‘We squished it around a bit, and even turned it over but couldn’t come up with any other ideas.’

Ms Desai added: ‘So I put the photos out there and the guesses started coming in. One of the first few guesses suggested some sort of eel.

‘I mentally smacked my forehead, because once that was suggested I could absolutely see the eel shape.

‘But when I think of an eel, I think of it in the ocean, hiding amongst coral or rocks, so I hadn’t made the connection while I’d been on the beach.’

Dr Kenneth Tighe of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History believes it could be a fangtooth snake-eel, a species native to the Gulf of Mexico which lurks in the deep and feasts on bony fish and crustaceans.

Source:
courtesy of METRO

by HARLEY TAMPLIN

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