‘Mystery creature’ washes up on Texas beach. Is it a snake, eel or something else?
A mysterious creature that washed ashore a Texas beach has experts baffled: Is it a snake, an eel or something else entirely?
A Padre Island National Seashore visitor captured a photo of the long, slender and earthy-colored animal on the sand and sent it to park officials.
At first, they assumed it could be a Texas blind snake, which are similar to an earthworm and appear when their normal habitat floods.
“Given all the coastal flooding that has been occurring, we thought this might be a pretty good guess,” Padre Island National Seashore posted on Facebook.
After a closer look, however, the body seemed more similar to that of an eel. The park found a species called snake-eels known for burrowing in mud or sand to catch small fish or crustaceans.
“Sometimes they can mimic the coloring of venomous sea snakes to deter predators and are often washed up by large storms,” the park said.
The park couldn’t identify the creature after “endlessly researching” snake eels and eels that live along the Gulf of Mexico coast in Texas. So, officials still don’t know what they’re seeing in the photo.
“We’re sticking with snake-eel,” the park said. “What do you think it might be?”
Video of squirming blob pulled from Texas lagoon prompts question: Is it from Earth?
Massive spider web seen in Missouri photo has some asking: Could it ‘catch’ humans?
