Freakish eel-like sea creature shows up on Australian beach

 By 
Johnny Lieu
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"What the fuck is it?"

They're the words written by Ethan Tippa on his Facebook page when he posted about this mysterious sea creature found in Swansea, on the New South Wales Central Coast in Australia on Monday.

The creature looks like the result of a botched science experiment, melding a crocodile's body with the nose of a dolphin and the skin of an eel or a fish.

Nightmare material right here! Monster of the deep or Photoshop magic? Details on @PRIME7Hunter tonight. pic.twitter.com/LrxAKk82Gs— PRIME7 News Hunter (@PRIME7Hunter) February 16, 2016

It was discovered by Robert Tyndall, according to the Newcastle Herald, who found the dead creature on the beach, along with "confused and slightly unnerved" locals.

The creature is a pike eel, according to marine biologist Julian Pepperell, measuring 1.4 metres (4.5 feet). Not too shy of its maximum length of 1.8 metres (5.9 feet.)

Pepperell told the newspaper that the eel appears to be quite old. The sea creature is famous for giving night fishermen a fright when it's accidentally caught. It also has a nasty bite that's "geared towards inflicting slashing wounds," as well as "strong muscle."

Just another creature you don't want to mess with in Australia.

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