Terrifying King Eel Snake Shocked Tourist on Mustang Island in TX

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Straight out of a horror movie, an unusual and massive creature was discovered on the beach at Mustang Island.

That's right South Texas, that's right beach enthusiasts, this THING was in the water! 

Well, before it was found dead on the beach by a sweet tourist who just about lost her mind when she found it!

It was at Marker 59 on Mustang Island and a tourist from Iowa was beach combing when she discovered the 4-foot-long creature.

"This is something nightmares are made of," she offered in her interview.

What she didn't know is that the creature is a King Snake Eel and for Texas, a very rare find.

KRIS 6 News spoke with Jace Tunnell, who is the Reserve Director at the University of Texas Science Institute, who said he also noticed the eel while doing his weekly beach surveys.

Yep, he had discovered it on the beach, but as a conservationist, left it alone.

Which hilariously freaked the poor tourist out!

Would you lose your mind if you found this King Snake Eel on the beach?

Tunnel offers that in his six years of research here, he has only seen two King eels.

Not for nothing, but this one is all I needed to see to never get in the water again! 

King Eels are known to be present in the Gulf of Mexico and researchers have said that if they come across another king snake eel, they plan on freezing it and handing it off to the University of Texas Fisheries Department where it will be preserved and studied by students.

“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.