A relaxed-looking juvenile Hawaiian monk seal lounges near a sandy white ... “It was just like, ‘We found a seal with an eel stuck in its nose, do we have a protocol?'” ...

A relaxed-looking juvenile Hawaiian monk seal lounges near a sandy white ... “It was just like, ‘We found a seal with an eel stuck in its nose, do we have a protocol?'” ...

Talk about a nosey nuisance. A Hawaiian monk seal was spotted over the summer with an eel hanging out of its nose, according to a photo shared by the Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program on Monday.

NOAA Fisheries researchers said earlier this week that, after studying Hawaiian monk seals for four decades, they've now seen "three or four" instances of eels getting trapped in a seal's nose.

But in recent years, researchers have been grappling with a strange and troubling issue: these seals are getting eels stuck in their noses. Hawaiian monk seals are well-known for their ability to ...

“In the nearly 40 years that we have been working to monitor and protect endangered Hawaiian monk seals, we have only started seeing ‘eels in noses’ in the last few years,” NOAA explains.

Endangered Hawaiian monk seals have enough to contend with—sharks, habitat loss, limited prey, nets—without eels wiggling in their noses. Yet NOAA researchers are noting just how much ...

A relaxed-looking juvenile Hawaiian monk seal lounges near a sandy white ... “It was just like, ‘We found a seal with an eel stuck in its nose, do we have a protocol?'” ...

A relaxed-looking juvenile Hawaiian monk seal lounges near a sandy white ... "It was just like, 'We found a seal with an eel stuck in its nose, do we have a protocol?'" Littnan told The Post ...