Strange and translucent “jumping sticks” have been appearing along Florida’s Space Coast, sparking curiosity and leaving people wondering: just what are these mysterious sea creatures?
The sight of these 1-inch-long, animated critters captivated a beachgoer as they strolled near Indialantic Boardwalk, as covered by FOX 35 WOFL.
“Their vigorous, hopping movements immediately caught my attention,” shared Diana Duby with WOFL.
Initially guessing they might be baby eels, Duby wasn’t far from the truth, according to Dr. Todd Osborne, a marine biology specialist at the University of Florida’s Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience.
Dr. Osborne confirmed to WOFL that these creatures are indeed part of the same leptocephalus family.
“That little clear thing — that could be an eel, a tarpon, several different tarpon, bonefish, ladyfish,” Dr. Osborne said.
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“They all fall under this class, the same order and they all have the same growth morphology as larvae, which is really cool.”
The mysterious organisms are so young that identifying their exact species is nearly impossible without further investigation.
One person’s chance encounter with the drifting, translucent organisms highlights how much remains unknown about Florida’s coastal marine ecosystems.
“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 told WOFL.