Strange object found on Alabama beach ‘looked and felt like a tongue.’ What was it?

A strange object resembling a big pink tongue washed up in Gulf Shores, Alabama, this week, and it wasn’t long before photos showed up on social media for debate.

Nicole Kelley of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, says she posted the photos because this is one mystery she needs solved.

“I’ve been coming to Gulf Shores/OBA (Orange Beach) all of my life and this is a first,” she wrote in a July 28 Facebook post.

“This washed up yesterday afternoon and (I) need to know what it is and why it washed up. All help would be appreciated. It looked and felt like a tongue.”

Kelley shared three photos on the What’s Happening in Gulf Shores Facebook page (with 73,000 followers) and it’s clear she came to the right crowd. Gulf Shores is on the Gulf of Mexico, about 30 miles west of Pensacola, Florida.

The post has gotten 3,300 reactions, 8,900 shares and nearly 1,500 responses in a day, including a lot of people who asked why in the heck people in the photo are holding a dead marine creature’s “tongue.”

“You don’t know where that thing’s been!” one commenter noted.

Answers to Kelley’s riddle have ranged from male whale genitals to the “tentacle of a VERY large squid.” However, hundreds of naughty puns and jokes have outnumbered helpful responses 10-1, leading some to suggest this mystery has given America the unity it needs in troubled times.

“Free Willy has a new meaning,” one woman said.

“Forget looking for crabs on the beach. Go big or go home,” another responded.

“You ladies have just made Gulf Shores, Alabama, the girls trip destination. Thank you!!” a guy posted

As for what the fleshy chunk might be, several commenters suggest it is a shark liver, perhaps thrown into the ocean by an angler who gutted and cleaned a catch at sea.

This story was originally published July 29, 2021 at 3:04 PM with the headline "Strange object found on Alabama beach ‘looked and felt like a tongue.’ What was it?."