Florida Angler Catches Giant, Terrifying Shrimp-Like Creature

The ocean is a great place if you’re looking to see horrifying things science will never fully understand.

Shark-eating monster fishes? Check. Razor-fanged sea sausages? Got 'em. Hulking death lobsters with javelins for arms? Right this way!

Indeed, mutant shrimp-like creatures exist on this planet, and one angler recently pulled up a yet-to-be identified, king-hell specimen while fishing in Fort Pierce, Florida.

Fox8Live.com’s Mandy Noell reports that an angler named Steve Bargeron was fishing off a local dock when he saw a nearby fisherman pull a giant, shrimp-like sea dweller out of the water.

Ostensibly afraid he had caught some kind of alien dino-lobster, Bargeron took pictures of the beast and sent them off to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which essentially shrugged its shoulders and said, “Good luck with that.” 

According to Noell’s report, the FWC believes the animal is a species of mantis shrimp, a crustacean that isn’t actually a shrimp but is named such because science. The Commission’s scientists said they still aren’t entirely sure what the creature is and will reportedly continue to study Bargeron’s pictures for clues.

It’s unclear what Bargeron’s fishing buddy did with the beast, but it could be back in the Indian River Lagoon, murdering catfish and punching holes in boats.

This story strikes close to home for me. I used to live a half hour south of Fort Pierce. I’ve SWUM in that water; I have loved ones still in the area.

I’m not saying anyone should nuke the lagoon—there’s a power plant nearby; could get messy—but we need to at least raise monster-shrimp-that’s-not-a-shrimp awareness in South Florida.

These creatures are among us, and it’s best if we just burn all the docks and go back inside.

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