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What are these clear ‘jumping sticks’ on the beach?
A beach day on the Space Coast turned into an unusual discovery when one-inch translucent creatures were spotted jumping along the shore, prompting beachgoers and marine experts alike to take a second look.
BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. - A beach day on the Space Coast turned into an unusual discovery when one-inch, translucent creatures were spotted jumping along the shore, leaving beachgoers and marine experts alike taking a second look.
The one-inch translucent sticks in the sand were jumping, jittery and hard to see, but they immediately stopped one beachgoer in her tracks.
Jumping sticks in the sand
What they're saying:
Dianne Duby was shocked when about a dozen of the jumping critters popped up near the Indialantic Boardwalk.
"They were flopping around. They were very active, and that's what caught my eye," said Duby.
Duby is always thrilled every time she stumbles on something she hasn't seen before.
"Anything different is just a thrill. The world that we live in," Duby said. "It's a thrill every time."
After looking online, Duby initially thought the small, active organisms might be baby eels moving through the sand.
"You never know," she added.
Mysterious sea creature sighting?
It turns out her guess wasn't far off. The creatures could indeed be eels, but they could also be one of several other unique species of marine life.
Dr. Todd Osborne, a marine life expert at the University of Florida's Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, reviewed the footage and noted key identifying features.
"Since they’re translucent and they have that eye – that makes them leptocephalus," Dr. Osborne explained, referring to the larval stage of certain marine species just starting their lives in the sea.
Because the organisms are so young, pinpointing the exact species is nearly impossible without further investigation.
"That little clear thing – that could be an eel, a tarpon, several different tarpon, bonefish, ladyfish," said Dr. Osborne. "They all fall under this class, the same order, and they all have the same growth morphology as larvae, which is really cool."
Several sea creatures start their lives in this clear, ribbon-like form to blend into their surroundings and avoid predators—a stark contrast to how they will look once fully grown. Dr. Osborne noted that these young larvae were likely trying to make their way toward the nearby lagoon, an essential estuary where many young species spend the next phase of their life cycle.
The sighting serves as a reminder of how much remains unknown about marine ecosystems right off the Florida coast.
"We’ve been cataloging things in the ocean for a couple hundred years, and we still have no idea about what is going on out there," Dr. Osborne said.
The Source: FOX 35 Reporter Esther Bower saw a video of the creature on social media and reached out. She interviewed the beachgoer, and an expert via Zoom.