Preeti Desai works for the National Audubon Society, but nothing prepared her for the hideous creature she saw on a Texas City, Texas beach while she was assessing damage to bird habitats after Hurricane Irma. She posted a pic of the monster, who was both extremely slimy and very toothy, on Twitter and called on biology critics to guess what it was. Marine biologists were able to identify it as either a fang-tooth snake-eel or a tusky eel, neither of which is usually found on beaches in Texas.
_ UPDATE: Preeti Desai of the National Audubon Society came across a dead creature on the beach in Texas City, Texas. She took photos and tweeted: “Okay, biology twitter, what the heck is this??” The consensus is that the fang-toothed, snake-like, eel-like creature is a fangtooth snake-eel.
… Biologist Dr. Kenneth Tighe of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History was able to answer Desai’s question after the request was passed along to him. Tighe believed the creature to be an Aplatophis chauliodus, which is also known as a fangtooth snake-eel or tusky eel. The toothy creature’s scientific name translates to “terrible serpent.”