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Bizarre, fearsome sea creature with needle-like teeth washes up dead on US' Oregon coast

A rotting carcass of a bizarre sea creature washed ashore on a coast in the United States and its fearsome appearance has shaken the witnesses and the internet alike. Pictures on Reddit show an unidentified animal with needle-like teeth, lying lifeless on a stack of rocks at Mill Beach in Brookings, Oregon.

TN Viral Desk

Updated Jun 23, 2022, 20:08 IST

Picture courtesy: r/bonecollecting

Photo : r/bonecollecting

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

The bizarre sea creature is decomposing as parts of its body appear to be peeling away.
The unusual Oregon coast find has experts debating what species the fish is.
Many initially believed it was either a lingcod or a wolf eel but there's new consensus among marine biologists.

A rotting carcass of a bizarre sea creature washed ashore on a coast in the United States and its fearsome appearance has shaken the witnesses and the internet alike.

Pictures posted on Reddit by a beachgoer named Kristine Tillotson show an unidentified animal with needle-like teeth, lying lifeless on a stack of rocks at Mill Beach in Brookings, Oregon. It appears to be decomposing as parts of the scary creature seem missing, like they underwent a physical breakdown.

Tilloston shared the picture with a community of bone collectors asking for help identifying the animal.

“I've never really seen a lot of ocean fish that look like this. Any help would be appreciated! I know it's not your standard bones,” the tempted Redditor pleaded.

What is this mysterious find that looks like a creepy deep-sea creature?

The post had intrigued animal experts debating what the creature could be, with the most popular responses narrowing the answer down to either a lingcod or a wolf eel.

However, both the possibilities were eliminated once it became clear that neither had a prickly set that appeared to be needle-like teeth.

Teeth are crucial to the identification of a decomposing animal because they are the last to go.

What do the scientists say?

After Tilloston posted the photo on the subreddit r/bonecollecting and community of marine biologists, the members arrived at a consensus that the bizarre sea creature is a monkeyface prickleback, also known as a monkeyface eel.

This species of prickleback is native to the Pacific coast of the US, typically inhabiting the rocky shores and shallow intertidal zones from Southern Oregon to Baja California. They rarely venture farther than an earshot of their base.

"I was excited and confused when I first saw it,” she recalled with NewsWeek. “I love walking the beach to see what washes up whether it's animals or shells. I thought it was super interesting because it didn't look like any fish I'd ever seen, it looked like one of those deep-sea creatures," the Oregon resident said.

Not long ago, in March, a mysterious ‘alien-like’ creature washed up on a beach in Queensland, Australia, and baffled beachgoers.

It appeared to have a reptilian-like skull, claws, and a long rat-like tail and was discovered by a local pastor during his morning walk, who went on to describe the animal as “extra-terrestrial”.

The ‘creature’ was later confirmed as a de-haired possum.

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