‘That sucker is huge.’ Starfish that’s ‘kind of creepy’ washes up In Texas, video shows

A starfish that washed up on a Texas shore has social media amazed, but wildlife experts say the creature isn’t too rare.

Christina Biery shared photos and video to Facebook on Wednesday, July 12, of the creature on the shore of Port Aransas on the Gulf of Mexico.

“Just a day at the beach, the jetty end has A LOT of sea grass right now,” she said in the post. “I think they are getting caught in it. There’s more than I’ve ever seen out there right now.”

The video shows the starfish slithering along the shore as a wave crashes into it.

As others commented on the size of the starfish, Berry said it was “so interesting to watch.”

Berry picked up the fish and put it back in the water, she said on the Shutter Bugs Port Aransas group on Facebook.

“That sucker is huge!!” Donna Repka replied. “Never seen one like this.”

“Kind of creepy, totally beautiful,” Donna Curry commented.

Mark Fisher, the science director for the Coast Fisheries Division of Texas Parks and Wildlife, told the Houston Chronicle the starfish species is a gray sea star.

Gray sea stars, also called striped sea stars, can grow up to 12 inches in diameter, according to Texas A&M University at Galveston.

“These stars live burrowed in the sand along the shore in the surf zone and beyond,” Fisher told the Chronicle. “When the surf is rough, like it has been with all this wind, they get churned up and wash up on the beach.”

Berry told KSAT the starfish she found was “the size of my palm.”

Marvin Orellana, a moderator of the Facebook group, told the San Antonio Express-News the sea star was “not that rare.” He said he sees “starfish at the beach fairly often.”

Two-spined sea stars, which are slightly smaller than the gray sea stars, are also common on the beach, the Express-News reported.