A unknown gruesome looking fish?

I came across this article today, just wanted to know if it was something already discovered...

paranormal.about.com...://caymannetnews.com/2006/01/1007/sister/fish.shtml

Nope, never seen it, looks more cool than gruesome though... Also it doesnt look too real, but then again, thats what they said about the platypus. Anyways cool find.

Weird....looks like some kind of eel/fish cross. By the looks of it though and similar fish found at those depths, it seems like it would be one of the abyssal dwelling kind. Though I don't know how deep the cayman waters are so I might be wrong. (I probably am)

Cool find, Nonpoint!

It looks like a typical deep-sea fish... But from the looks of it some discoloration took place. Maybe a new species?
Aah, the great, unexplored vastness of the ocean!

WOW cool find.

I go fishing all the time and never have seen anything like that before.

It must have been Dying to wash it self up on the shore like that. Or has there been any storms out in that area to distrube that sea life?

But I must admit like the others.
The ocean is sure a cool place that is and will never be fully explored.

DARKRAVENESS xxxxxxx

Looks like it's the adult version of the animal in my Found in frozen shrimp thread!!

Possibly a chimera ratfish ?

can someonepost the pic, i cant seem to get to the site!

I spend alot of time in Galveston and see weird looking fish at the gulf fish market all the time. People who have worked there forever cant identify alot of these things. Strange creatures are no stranger to people who fish in the sea.

look at the head of the thing in the second pic.

it shows obvious cut/paste lines.

too bad though, looked like it would have been pretty cool.

[edit on 17-1-2006 by madnessinmysoul]

I believe it's a Toadfish. And it's a particularly lengthy and rare type. Those spines are poisonous. A variety of Toadfish are common to the Cayman Brac area. Compare it with
courses.washington.edu...

I'm not convinced it's a toad fish.

DARKRAVENESS xxxxxx

I fell sorry for the fish it cry out loud for water! LOL

maybe it's a genetic experiment of toadfish crossed with something else. The head looks like a toad fish but the toad fish in that picture has no scales so I'm guessing it's either experiment, crossbreeding in fish, or it's a hoax. Most likely I'd say hoax, But it's cool anyway.

Originally posted by nonpoint
I came across this article today, just wanted to know if it was something already discovered...

paranormal.about.com...://caymannetnews.com/2006/01/1007/sister/fish.shtml

interesting fishy. i wounder if its edible and if it tastes like chicken? someone should cook it up and describe the taste.

Toadfish does sound about right - or a deep water species version of it. It reminds me of any of the "angler" type monkfish species found in colder waters - also similar to the north atlantic cusk.

Ive been breeding tropical fish all my life, I have read countless text on the subject and have several subscriptions to magazines devoted to fish. I am by no means an expert but as close as I can get. I have never seen a fish like this. It does appear to be abysal in origen. I doubt it is an angler relative anglers are actually very tiny. If its stomach contents were examined it would help to zero in on where it dwells and thus narrow down the possible species.

Hi again SoLaR! Looks like a species of ratfish to me - a fairly common deep sea fish. Found a movie shot from an ROV here.........

www-sci.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca...

Seems like we're interested in more than the weather!

I think the one in the photo has a distended swim bladder.

There are hundreds of species of angler fish - not all of them tiny. Some are very large including the North Atlantic monkfish - I've seen these fish grow to over 40 pounds.

The small, conical inward pointing teeth are characteristic of angler species.

Well maldives great minds do think alike. I think your right its the ratfish. the one in the photo is merely bloated from decompisition. I did say im no expert and my area of specialty are freshwaterfish. I guess I should have been more specific. Most anglers are tiny usually the ones found in tide pools or washed up on shore are of the small variety.