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MUSTANG ISLAND, Texas — Plenty of things wash up on shore at the beach — kelp, sand crabs and the occasional jellyfish. Now, we can add "spaghetti monsters" to the list.
Beachgoers near Corpus Christi, Texas, recently noticed the creepy sea creatures that look like eyeballs.
Researchers nicknamed the alien-looking critters "spaghetti monsters" — although their scientific name is Rhizophysa — and say they're similar to the Portuguese Man-o-War.
Like jellyfish, "spaghetti monsters" have tentacles that can sting. If that's not creepy enough, researchers say these creatures are actually a collection of animals living together that look like one.
They may be rare as far north as Texas, but they aren't exactly new. State park officials posted about the "creepy eyeball-looking creatures" three years ago and admitted it took a while to figure out what they were.
One commenter from 2021 said, "At first we thought it was a fish eyeball."
Another warned, "These things are prime reason why i don't go in the ocean !!!"
Contributing: CNN
