A bizarre-looking rotting sea creature has been found washed up on a coast in the United States. Beachgoers in the Oregon state of the US were left baffled after they spotted a dead mysterious sea creature that washed up on the coast, reported Newsweek. One of the persons at the beach, after failing to identify the creature, shared its pictures on social media and sought help.
In the pictures, posted by user Kristine Tillotson, the bizarre-looking creature was seen lying dead on the rocks. It did not seem to be sharing features with any known creature and had needle-like teeth. It was found to be decomposing with parts of its body peeling away. Tillotson, reportedly, spotted the creature while she was at the Mill Beach in Brookings, Oregon.
Tillotson told News agency that after stumbling upon the dead organism, she clicked photos and posted them on “ In a bone collecting group of one of the social media as well as a marine biologist group. The woman said that the dead creature sparked her curiosity and that she found it to be interesting. “I was excited and confused when I first saw it. I love walking the beach to see what washes up whether it’s animals or shells,” Tillotson added.
The post had intrigued animal experts debating what the creature could be, with the most popular responses narrowing the answer down to either a lingcod or a wolf eel. However, both the possibilities were eliminated once it became clear that neither had a prickly set that appeared to be needle-like teeth. Teeth are crucial to the identification of a decomposing animal because they are the last to go.
After Tilloston posted the photo on social media and the community of marine biologists, the members arrived at a consensus that the bizarre sea creature is a monkeyface prickleback, also known as a monkeyface eel.
This species of prickleback is native to the Pacific coast of the US, typically inhabiting the rocky shores and shallow intertidal zones from Southern Oregon to Baja California. They rarely venture farther than an earshot of their base.
Not long ago, in March, a mysterious ‘alien-like’ creature washed up on a beach in Queensland, Australia, and baffled beachgoers. It appeared to have a reptilian-like skull, claws, and a long rat-like tail and was discovered by a local pastor during his morning walk, who went on to describe the animal as “extra-terrestrial”. The ‘creature’ was later confirmed as a de-haired possum.
