VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Visitors planning to stop at Virginia Beach are being warned to be on the lookout for a decidedly strange looking fish recently spotted near the shoreline.
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Organizers with the East Coast Surfing Championships, or ECSC, shared a photo last week of the fish, a northern stargazer, popping its head up from the sand.
Northern stargazers eat small fish and crustaceans and hunt by burying themselves in sand, with only their eyes and mouth above ground.
"A friend of ECSC came across this stargazer while walking in Virginia Beach," organizers said in a Facebook post. "They do not pose any real threat to humans, but they sure look menacing."
According to the Chesapeake Bay Program, the fish typically makes its home in the deep, open waters of lower Chesapeake Bay. It can grow up to 22 inches in length but typically only grow to between eight and 18 inches.
"Watch your step," ECSC organizers wrote on Facebook.