Mysterious ‘eyeball from the sea’ washes up on Texas beach. See its ‘creepy beauty’

The “eyeball from the sea” has arrived in Texas, and it would be best if you kept your distance, experts say.

It was found washed up on the beach at Mustang Island, looking like an eye that popped free from its skull and is trailed by a tentacle instead of an optic nerve, photos shared March 18 by the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies show.

The creature is as mysterious as it is “creepy” and is just one of many to come tumbling out of the Gulf of Mexico in recent days, according to the institute.

“I’ve lived on the water for my entire life & I’ve NEVER seen one of these!” a commenter said, echoing the thoughts of many others.

“I’m glad I’ve never seen one of these. Scary!” wrote another.

“Very little is known” about them, experts said, but the sightless eyeball is actually a jellyfish-like organism known as a siphonophore — which is not an individual animal but a “colony of animals living together as one.”

More specifically, it is a type of Rhizophysa sometimes referred to as “spaghetti monsters” or “thread jellies,” the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said after a 2021 sighting. “They are native to the tropical Atlantic and Indian oceans so it’s pretty rare to see them here.”

Whatever the case, beachgoers should keep a sharp look out because “they do sting just like their cousins, the man o’ war,” according to the institute.

“If you see these floating up on the beach, just admire their creepy beauty,” the institute said. “But don’t touch, unless you want to feel the pain of the eyeball from the sea.”

Mustang Island is a roughly 235-mile drive southwest of Houston.

This story was originally published March 19, 2024 at 7:54 AM with the headline "Mysterious ‘eyeball from the sea’ washes up on Texas beach. See its ‘creepy beauty’."