Massive alligator terrifies tourists: ‘Beach and zoo at the same time’

Sea you later alligator!

A tourist’s beach getaway was turned into a scene from a horror movie when he spotted a massive alligator swimming in the ocean off an Alabama island over the weekend.

Videos and images of the freshwater reptile estuary excursion are causing a sensation on Facebook.

“It’s not every day something like this happens,” terrified tourist Matt Harvill told WBRC after posting the shocking snapshots on social media.

Harvill and his girlfriend had been spending a “beautiful day” on Dauphin Island, a popular tourist spot, when a passerby alerted them to the presence of the scaly invader.

“My girlfriend and I were hanging out at the beach when someone mentioned it,” said the Mobile native, who walked along the shoreline for a closer look.

It was then that he saw the huge reptile frolicking in the waves. As he was not used to seeing a swamp-dwelling creature in the sea, Harvill pulled the phone from him and got a video.

The resulting footage, titled “the things you never think you’ll see,” shows the alligator lurking quite conspicuously in the surf.

“Tell me where you can go to the beach and the fucking zoo at the same time,” Harvill says on camera.

The Alabama resident found the sighting particularly incredible given that he usually only sees alligators in fresh water and almost “never in the Gulf.” [of Mexico] how that.”

In fact, alligators, which are the largest reptiles in the US, regularly growing up to 15 feet in length and weighing over 1,000 pounds, generally prefer to inhabit freshwater ecosystems like rivers and swamps.

That’s because they don’t have saltwater glands, a salinity-regulating mechanism under their tongues, like their crocodile brethren. This allows the latter to reside in both brackish and saltwater full-time.

However, the alligator’s lack of an iodine filter does not prevent them from making seaside stays from time to time.

In fact, scientists found that alligators often visit estuarine environments in search of marine prey, including blue crabs, rays, and even sharks.

In 2003, a transient alligator was seen feeding on a nurse shark in a Florida mangrove swamp.

Meanwhile, a 10-foot alligator terrorized Florida beachgoers last October after it emerged from the salty depths and waded ashore.