A researcher found a giant creature on a beach in the US state of Texas and promptly posted his find online as a video. Enthusiastic and extremely instructive, he describes the approximately 1.20 meter long creature and poses with it in front of the camera. Although he himself decides to classify the animal as an American eel, the comments under the video post and other discussion forums show that the researcher may be wrong in his assessment.
Jace Tunnell works at the University of Texas Ocean Institute and makes it his mission to report on all aspects of his scientific work in vivid and often very impressive videos. A number of thanks and positive feedback under his postings show that he often hits the nerve of the viewers and presents and explains exactly things that very little is generally known about outside of the research world.
In a clip from January 23 this year, which he published on Facebook and YouTube, he can be seen with what at first appears extremely bizarre snake-like creature. Tunnell reports finding a giant eel. The 1.20 meter long creature is probably female and belongs to the omnivores. As is usual with American eels, the animals can secrete up to four million fish eggs for reproduction.
He himself was really amazed at how big the animal was. Normally, eels in the region would only be used as bait to catch other fish. With this Kaventsmann, however, that is obviously not possible. But do we actually see an American eel in his videos? Tunnell himself distinguishes the animal from a moray eel by the nature and position of the fins and settles down. In a comment under the Facebook post, however, a user explains that it is clearly a so-called king snake eel.
The specialist portals Blinker.de and Soundings also estimate that Tunnell’s find more closely resembles a king snake eel. Specimens of this genus can grow up to two meters long and usually haunt the same area as Tunnell’s putative American eel.
But even if there are many arguments against the classification as an American eel, the find is both an instructive specimen and an example of the unique diversity of the underwater world. Whether a tourist would want to encounter such a gigantic eel on the beach is another matter Sheet.
Sources: Blinker, Soundings
