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From Fox News: A bearded, venomous creature has emerged on the beaches of Corpus Christi.
Prickly fireworms, also called bristle worms, washed up along the Texas Gulf Coast and beachgoers are on high alert.
The National Park Services (NPS) described the bristles as tiny, needle-like spikes, each one filled with venom, according to FOX Weather.
The Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies shared photos along with the following warning in a Facebook post:
WARNING!!! Your worst nightmares are washing up right now in the form of fireworms! 🔥 😂 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 logs these were found on had gooseneck barnacles all over them, which might have been what the worms were feeding on.
The fireworms get their name because of the pain they inflict on anyone that dares to touch them; it literally feels like fire for about three hours. Your skin can feel sensitive in the sting site for weeks depending on where it stung you.
The white bristles coming off each segment of the worm are hollow filled with neurotoxin and they break off when you touch them. They feed on crustaceans like barnacles. They are found in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and of course the Gulf of Mexico.
Jace Tunnell is holding up one of the worms he found yesterday near Mustang Island on a large log. He’s made a Beachcombing episode with some wild looking close-up video that will air in early September on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@HarteResearch
Last week, the group posted a video of the creatures, and wrote:
Are these fireworms dangerous? Watch this and tell us what you think. Some of the gnarliest looking creatures in the ocean are polychaete worms, including this fireworm. This fireworm, Amphinome rostrata, is part of a family of polychaetes in the Amphinomidae family that are found on floating debris in the ocean and usually around gooseneck barnacles which is what they feed on. Watch this episode of Beachcombing with Jace Tunnell to see this amazing worm up close.
WATCH:
Spiky creatures wash up on Texas beach, described as ‘your worst nightmares’ https://t.co/XRmOTsw2Gl
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 24, 2024
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