It is a creature that we are not used to seeing every day on the beach.
The director of the Mission-Aransas reserve in Texas (USA) made a particularly unusual discovery during his weekly patrol, reports the San Antonio Express-News.
As he proves in a video posted Monday on Facebook, he came across the remains of an American eel of impressive dimensions.
While counting the birds and looking for possible stranded sea turtles, the director of the nature reserve was surprised to find this dead eel on the beach.
The animal is about 1.20 meters long.
Up to four million eggs
“Eels are quite common in freshwater rivers in Texas, but not usually this size,” the nature lover testified.
He also clarified that the fish was a female, whose dimensions are much larger than those of the males.
Eels of this species can carry up to four million eggs.
This American eel is unfortunately very rare to observe in the wild, being listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species.
The cause of death of the specimen is difficult to establish, in the absence of obvious signs.
"We have no way of knowing how this particular eel died, but the females usually leave fresh water and spawn offshore before they die," the reserve manager explained.
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Texas
UNITED STATES
Beach
Animals
Video