A stroll along Texas City Beach took an unexpected turn for Preeti Desai when she stumbled upon a creature typically found deep underwater washed ashore during Hurricane Harvey.
Desai shared an image of the mysterious marine creature on Twitter, hoping someone could identify it: “Ok, biology Twitter, what the heck is this? Found on a beach in Texas City, TX,” she wrote on September 6.
One respondent, Adam Summers, a professor at the University of Washington, identified the creature based on “skin color remnants, body and head shape, teeth, and jaw formation.”
Initially appearing eyeless, Summers noted the eyes had simply decomposed.
Summers credited Ben Frable of UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography for identifying the fish as a fangtooth snake-eel. Frable wasn’t certain if Hurricane Harvey brought the creature to the beach, stating, “Sometimes they live in shallow waters. And they wash onto beaches even without storms.”
According to biologist Dr. Kenneth Tighe, there’s a high likelihood the creature is a fangtooth snake-eel but could also be a conger or a garden eel.
The fangtooth snake-eel, typically found in waters 30 to 90 meters deep in the western Atlantic Ocean, feeds on small fish and crustaceans and can reach up to 33 centimeters in length.
Twitter users agreed that regardless of the creature’s name, it’s nightmare-inducing.
Various creatures were affected by the strong hurricanes hitting the southern United States in recent weeks.
Many animals were stranded when Hurricane Irma hit Florida last week, including two manatees left stranded in Sarasota Bay, Florida, and later rescued by a group of people.
Florida residents were spared any encounters with alligators, which were confined to Gatorland in Orlando to prevent posing any risk to humans.
