There are plenty of mysteries in the world, but brightly colored piggy banks repeatedly washing up on Texas beaches might be one of the strangest yet.
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Jace Tunnell, a marine biologist with the Harte Research Institute, says he has discovered around 60 piggy banks along beaches in South Texas this year alone.
At one point, he even found 14 of the unusual items in a single day.
Now, Tunnell is trying to figure out exactly where they are coming from.
Texas Beaches Left Covered in Mysterious Piggy Banks
Tunnell believes there are a couple of possible explanations behind the bizarre discoveries.
One theory is that the piggy banks were discarded by unhappy buyers.
Another possibility is that they were lost during an accident at sea and eventually carried to shore by ocean currents.
Speaking to 12NewsNow, Tunnell explained that the piggy banks appear to originate from countries in South America and the Caribbean.
He added that dozens more have reportedly been discovered by other people around the Bolivar Peninsula and South Padre Island.
"Once these piggy banks have been used, you'll notice there's a bunch of cuts in them. There's no other way to get the money out, so people dispose of them, whether it's directly in the ocean or on land," Tunnell said.
Marine Biologist Still Unsure Where the Piggy Banks Came From
Tunnell noted that some of the piggy banks appeared untouched and unused.
That has led him to believe they may have been discarded immediately after purchase or potentially dumped by distributors.
Because many of them were empty, he suspects they floated easily through ocean currents. Before eventually washing up on the Texas coastline.
Tunnell also revealed that, despite plenty of online curiosity, he has yet to find any actual money inside the piggy banks.
"Every time I post one, people are like, 'What was in there? Did you find any money?' I just tell them, sand dollars. That's the only thing I ever found in there," he added.
Even with decades of experience studying the ocean, Tunnell admits he still does not know exactly why the piggy banks continue appearing in such large numbers.
Writing in a column for the Caller Times, he said reports of similar discoveries have surfaced over the past year. Thus, suggesting the phenomenon is not isolated.
Tunnell added that continued monitoring may eventually reveal whether the piggy banks came from a single incident or an ongoing source.
