Chron.com

"In 1974, they put these 10 cars in the ground along Route 66 at an angle–to them, it's about the rise and fall of the tail fin. The tail fins on the Cadillacs get bigger as they go along and it’s about the height of car culture," said Jonathan Revet, MFA, head of the art, theater, and dance department at Texas A&M University.

"When you see how many butterflies don't make the migration, it gives you perspective," James Tracy, a postdoctoral researcher in A&M's Department of Entomology, said in an AgriLife Today news release. "It shows how closely our daily lives overlap with the natural world, and we are researching some small adjustments that could make a real difference."

Dr. Guilherme N. Corte, a marine biologist and assistant professor at Texas A&M University, was similarly surprised after conducting fieldwork in the area over the summer. "It was really impressive! I have not seen such high densities on the beaches I have studied so far—Brazil, Australia, Caribbean," Corte told Chron. "One possibility is that they are aggregating for reproductive purposes. Many hermit crab species synchronize reproduction with warmer months, when higher temperatures accelerate larval development."

The Gulf of Mexico has a natural barrier made up of Florida, Cuba and the Bahamas, which can prevent outside tsunamis from sweeping the area. There's only a "narrow passage" for a tsunami to hit the Gulf of Mexico, according to Juan Horillo, emeritus associate professor with Texas A&M. "We have a very low probability of a tsunami," Horillo said. "The only source could be a landslide, but that doesn't happen often."