BOLIVAR PENINSULA, Texas — A woman picking up shells on Crystal Beach along the Bolivar Peninsula earlier this month also spotted something unexpected.
The dead creature with sharp teeth was kinda creepy, but Suzanne Choate Arceneaux was curious to find out what it was so she shared a photo on Facebook.
"I did find a strange fish," she posted on the Bolivar Beachcombers page. "Can someone tell me what it is?"
The comments were hilarious!
"That’s a fish straight outta the depths from hell," Jennifer Raymundo joked.
"That’s a hell naw fish if I’ve ever seen one!" Dana Bennett Peavey said.
Another woman called it, "my next nightmare."
Other commenters made reference to movies.
"I think I seen one of [them] years ago…. I think it was in tremors," Jason Howard joked.
"It’s the sand worm from Beatlejuice," Melanie Vanderford posted.
"ALIEN. Stay away from the ‘pods," Sharon Kay said.
Several commenters said it was an eel and it turned out they were right, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Mark Fisher, the TWPD Coastal Fisheries Science Director, told the San Antonio Express-News that he believes it's a snapper eel. The creature is “somewhat common” in Galveston Bay, Fisher said, but they usually stay burrowed so most people never see them.
According to the Smithsonian Institute, they're also called spoon-nosed eels and can grow up to nearly 6 feet long. Now, that's scary!
