Nature & Environment

'Nightmarish' slithering, spiky creatures wash up on beach in Texas

By T.K. Randall
August 25, 2024 ·  0 comments

Jace Tunnell holds up a fireworm. Image Credit: YouTube / Harte Research Institute If you've been walking along the beach in Texas recently, you might have come across a slithering, black, worm-like creature with curved white spikes running up and down its body.

Whatever you do, don't pick it up - this particular creature can deliver a nasty, poisonous sting.

Known as the fireworm, this particular ocean-dwelling menace was recently the subject of a warning by wildlife officials who cautioned beachgoers to steer well clear of them.

"We've found a few of these marine polychaetes, sometimes called bristle worms, washing up over the past couple of days on large logs," the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies wrote in a recent Facebook post."The logs these were found on had gooseneck barnacles all over them, which might have been what the worms were feeding on."

Suffice to say, picking one of these animals up with your bare hands is not recommended.

"Your skin can feel sensitive in the sting site for weeks depending on where it stung you," the institute wrote. "The white bristles coming off each segment of the worm are ... filled with neurotoxin and they break off when you touch them."

If you are unlucky enough to get stung by the creature, the recommended course of action is to remove the spikes from your skin using a strip of adhesive tape.


Source: Fox News | Comments (0)

Tags: Texas, Worm