A beach day turned bizarre when walkers in Dana Point stumbled upon a ghastly sea creature that looked more monster than fish. The pale, almost alien specimen, with its multiple rows of needle-like teeth and grotesquely stretched skin, immediately captured public imagination when photos hit social media. Marine expert Chris Yesson’s posts of the discovery quickly went viral, with many users marveling at its otherworldly appearance.
Wildlife authorities soon identified the creature as a moray eel, though its severely decomposed state created its horror-movie aesthetic. “This is what happens when natural decomposition processes work on a normally reclusive sea creature,” explained Tim Daly from California’s Fish and Wildlife Department. While moray eels might look terrifying, they’re actually quite common in Southern California waters and generally avoid human contact.
The internet had a field day with the discovery, spawning countless memes and musical parodies of the classic “That’s Amore.” One particularly clever user rewrote the lyrics: “When the skin looks wrong and the teeth are long… that’s a moray!” Beyond the humor, the incident serves as a fascinating reminder of the ocean’s hidden wonders and how little we sometimes understand about the creatures sharing our coastal waters.
