Scary fruits highly toxic to humans are washing up on Texas beaches

KANIKA SINGH RATHORE,

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These are strange fruits that may have been floating in ocean currents for years washing up on texas shores This week.

The softball-sized, cube-like and spongy lime green or brown objects known as “box fruits” can travel thousands of miles across the ocean before washing up on shore.

“What makes them so special is where they come from,” wrote Jess Tunnell, director of community engagement at the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Hurt Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies. A post shared on Facebook,

“These fruits grow barringtonia asiatica The trees are native to the Indo-Pacific but have been planted on islands in the Caribbean, where the seeds likely drifted in,” he said.

But, beachgoers should be careful! Box fruits are poisonous and edible toxic plant chemicals in them can reach coma Or organ damage, Indian researchers say.

Jess Tunnell, director of community engagement at the Hurt Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, holds two boxes of fruit that washed up on a Texas beach this week.

Jess Tunnell, director of community engagement at the Hurt Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, holds two boxes of fruit that washed up on a Texas beach this week. ,Jace Tunnell/Harte Research Institute,

In the past, fishermen used its poisonous properties to catch fish.

“Some island cultures traditionally crushed them and used them to stun fish in shallow waters, which is why the tree is sometimes called the ‘fish poison tree,'” Tunnell explains.

barringtonia asiatica The tree has stunning white flowers that produce box fruits. The flowers bloom only at night, and attract bats and moths for pollination.

The box fruit Barringtonia asiatica appears hanging from the tree. This tree is native to the Indo-Pacific.

The box fruit Barringtonia asiatica appears hanging from the tree. This tree is native to the Indo-Pacific. ,Getty Images/iStock,
A box of fruits lying on a beach in Texas. But these fruits aren't the only dangerous things for beachgoers.

A box of fruits lying on a beach in Texas. But these fruits aren’t the only dangerous things for beachgoers. ,Jace Tunnell/Harte Research Institute,

Once the fruits fall from the trees, they are also used as natural flotation devices for nets. Houston ChronicleThe fruits have air pockets inside them that allow them to float with water.

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In traditional medicine, the seeds were used to get rid of intestinal worms, Hawaii National Tropical Botanical Garden NotesNow they are not used that way.

How many there are and where they have traveled are unclear, but “enough trees exist in the Caribbean region to provide samples of driftwood reported from Yucatan, Texas, and Florida,” author Ed Perry. wrote in my book tropical sea beans,

However, boxed fruit isn’t the only thing Texans need to pay attention to when spending the day at the beach.

In 2022, poisonous blue dragon sea slug Blows in from the Gulf of Mexico and its sting is even more poisonousThat Portuguese Man o’ War Jellyfish,

Red sea urchins are also found in the field, and can pack a nasty and – not fatal – dangerous sting.

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