This cuddly little guy washed up on a beach in Texas and it's literally the absolute cutest

Everyone loves a stroll on the beach, why else would people mention it so much in dating profiles? Walking hand-in-hand with a loved one, the sea air ruffling your hair, the gentle lapping of the waves — what could be nicer? Oh, and don't forget the desiccated sea-monster lying on the sand.

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Photographer Preeti Desai got at least one of these things when she was walking on a beach in Texas. Guess which one...

Let's take a closer look at the lil' buddy.

Image: @preetalina

Image: @Preetalina

What a loveable toothy maw! Desai reached out to aquatic experts on Twitter to help her identify the cutie-pie. The experts contributed rationally enough...

...for the most part.

It isn't really an aquatic xenomorph though... right?

Image: Twentieth Century Fox/@preetalina/Mashable composite

No, don't be silly [laughs nervously].

Although there was a little debate, the consensus seems to be that the creature is a kind of snake-eel, quite possibly a fangtooth snake-eel to be precise, sometimes known as the tusky eel. This is NOT to be confused with the fangtooth moray eel, who looks like this:

Image: Jorge Sorial/Solent News/REX/Shutterstock

Eel or no, the denizen of the deep has garnered quite a lot of media attention.

Desai was eager to stress that this creature was not really monstrous in any way, shape or form.

Disappointing though it is to discover that this creature was not some kind of marine behemoth (how awesome would that be), it's still a cool find.

As long as it doesn't portend the rising from the depths of some Lovecraftian race of mer-beasts, it's pretty neat!

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