Venomous Sea Creatures That Look Like Eyeballs Washing Up On Texas Beach
These “creepy” cousins of the Portuguese man o’ war should be appreciated from afar.
Jace Tunnell/Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Another day, another reason for beachgoers to watch where they step.
We regret to inform you that spaghetti monsters, a stinging sea animal that bears a shocking resemblance to an eyeball (optic nerve and all), have been washing up on a Texas barrier island.
According to a Facebook post by the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, there have been “several reports” of these creepy creatures along the water line on Mustang Island in the past week. And while you might be tempted to scoop one up, these relatives of the Portuguese man o' war pack a punch.
“These jellyfish are not true jellyfish, but are siphonophores, like the Portuguese man o’ War, which is a colony of animals living together as one,” the institute explained. “This spaghetti monster, also called thread jellies, has the scientific name of Rhizophysa. The gas filled float at the top looks like an eyeball at first glance, with long tentacles below.”
“If you see these floating up on the beach, just admire their creepy beauty, take photos, but don’t touch,” the post continued, “unless you want to feel the pain of the eyeball from the sea.”
Siphonophores are colonial organisms consisting of numerous individual parts known as zooids. They feed by stinging and paralyzing small fishes with their long, venomous tentacles. Coming in contact with their tentacles can be extremely painful.
Spaghetti monsters are native to the tropical Atlantic and Indian oceans so it's pretty rare to see them in the Gulf Coast, though they appeared in the same spot in 2021.
In a 2021 interview with MySA.com, Jace Tunnell at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, said it was the first time he had ever seen the creatures.
“Certain times of the year these jellyfish and stuff fluctuate coming in, and we randomly find interesting things coming, and this one, in particular, kind of threw me off ... it's an interesting find for sure," Tunnell said.
Tread carefully, y’all!
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