By Makaylah Chavez
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PORT ARANSAS, Texas (KRIS) — Last month, a number of regional homeowners came across a surprise – a king snake eel – on their stroll at the Port Aransas beach.
These eels are uncommon and just discovered in the Gulf of Mexico.
“We saw this huge eel and coming from Iowa I thought this is stuff nightmares are made out of,” Port Aransas female Michelle Neelans said.
KRIS 6 News consulted with Jace Tunnell, the Reserve Director at the University of Texas Science Institute, who said he likewise discovered the eel while doing his weekly beach studies.
“We find a lot of the smaller eels, like shrimp eels. People use those for fishing. But these large eels, there’s not very many species that get that large. When you find them washed up dead it’s like what is this thing you know,” Tunnell said.
After Tunnel and the Mission Aransas Researches discovered the dead eel cleaned up by the wreck zone, they made certain to get videos of it for their YouTube channel. Thankfully, Tunell had a set of gloves and a camera prepared in his car. After getting some shots of the eel, the group believed it was best to leave the dead animal where they discovered it. He informed us they did this so others might enjoy it the method they did. His strategy worked.
“It didn’t seem to be alive, so the fear quickly waned. We stood back and looked at the beauty of it after we were done being scared. I hope to come across more things like this and be ale to post them and show them to others,” Neelans said.
Tunnell informed us that in his 6 years of doing beach studies, this is the 2nd time he’s encountered an eel this big and uncommon. The last time he saw something comparable was 3 years earlier.
“It would not surprise me at all if we found more of them washing up in the future. The last one I found was probably three or four years ago. So maybe in three or four years we’ll find another one,” Tunnell said.
If scientists discover another king snake eel, they intend on freezing it and handing it off to the University of Texas Fisheries Department where it will be protected and studied by trainees.
“It’s a lot that we don’t know about the Gulf of Mexico and what’s in the ocean. I think the more we’re able to learn about it, the more we’re able to care about it, the more people will want to conserve it and protect it,” Tunnell said.
If among these eels cleaned up dead or alive, Tunnell suggests taking photos and calling the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. For more videos on fascinating animals that are discovered in Port Aransas go to MissionAransasNERR on YouTube. They post brand-new videos every Monday at 1 p.m.
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