The sharp-toothed remains of what looked like "an alien" has shocked beachgoers after washing up in the United States.
The mystery sea creature was snapped by Brandy Artall whose friend, Patricia Ducote, shared it on the Bolivar Beachcombers Facebook page, leaving people baffled.
Social media users were eager to share their own wild suggestions of what the large specimen – found at the Bolivar Peninsula, Texas – could be. From alien remains and a kraken corpse to a sea urchin.
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“It’s what nightmares are made of,” said Facebook user Karolyn Willingham Matson.
“That’s a big pile of nope is what that is,” said Crystal Lynch.
Lisa Russell Golab added: "What the….? Those teeth!"
Irene Hauptman Hommert offered: "I don’t know, but I surely wouldn’t touch that thing without gloves."
But according to Science Director of Coastal Fisheries, Mark Fisher, the image shows what is likely the gills and gill arches of a fish “that someone probably caught and filleted.”
“The feathery parts are the gills, which are attached to the bony gill arches. The spikey bits in the top middle are the pharyngeal teeth,” he said in a statement to KSAT 12.
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Texas Parks and Wildlife Department experts agreed.
“The feathery parts are the gills, which are attached to the bony gill arches. The spikey bits in the top middle are the pharyngeal teeth,” Lerrin Johnson, of TPWD, told the Houston Chronicle.
“I cannot identify the species, but it is most likely a large sport fish.”
Jace Tunnell, director of the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve and the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, also thought it was something less sinister than a sea monster.
"I saw this a few days ago and immediately thought of fish gills," Tunnell told San Antonio Express News. "After digging a little more, they appear to be gills and throat parts of a large fish, likely a redfish."
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