A mysterious sea creature was recently washed up on a beach in Ireland. It created a buzz on social media for its long, thin, grey-colored appearance that made it look like a “forbidden churro”. For the unversed, a churro is a snack that is made from dough. It is deep-fried and belongs to Spanish and Portuguese cuisine.
The now-viral photo of the mysterious creature was posted last week on Reddit by the person who came across the animal. “Can anyone help me identify this sea creature? Just found it washed up on a beach in Ireland,” he wrote in his post.
Soon after the post went viral, responses started dropping in from people who wanted to share their take on the creature. One Redditor said that it could be a ‘Needle fish’. Another laughed over the post, calling it a ‘forbidden churro’. The user was comparing the mysterious-looking animal to the long, deep-fried snack because of its elongated body.
Few others said it could be Goa’uld which is a race of sentient parasitic beings that serves on hosts. They come from the sci-fi series Stargate SG-1.
Another termed the creature as jörmungadr, a sea serpent. Also known as the Midgard Serpent or World Serpent, it is the middle child of the giantess Angrboða and Loki. These characters come from the Norse mythology that is popularised by the God of War franchise. Some even suggested that it may not be a creature at all, or rather a part of it like a ‘sea scorpion’s tail’.
As scores of comments started pouring in, the person who originally found the strange creature replied to one of the comments, accepting that it could be a “greater pipefish (Syngnathus acus)”. He also thanked the Redditor for his help.
Pipefish are closely related to both seahorses and seadragons. They belong to a sub-species of small fish, as per Encyclopedia Britannica.