A unknown gruesome looking fish?

Originally posted by piersploughman
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.

The only ones I have seen have longer more slender teeth making up most of the head.

Well, good guesses guys, but I don't think it's a ratfish. All the specimens I've seen had well-developed pectoral fins of significant size compared to body length. Plus, the external gill/jaw structure looks more like a largemouth bass than any relative of the shark.

It's been said at least once, but it's worth repeating: the distended stomach isn't necessarily indicative of what the critter would look like alive, because it could be filling with gases as a result of decay.

The body structure reminds me a bit of the monkfish, but there's something not right, just some visual elements or something not synching up with my brain. While the caudal fin isn't visible in either shot, the tail looks way too slender to support a large structure there, and IIRC monkfish have a fairly beefy backfin. I'm not sure what to tell you, other than perhaps it's a fake?

The monkfish I've seen look more like aquatic bats, their scales aren't nearly so fine and uniform, this thing looks more like a scaled eel with a fish's head. I thought maybe it was a juvenile wolf fish, but the jaw structure is all wrong and it doesn't appear to have a pronounced dorsal ridge (I'm pretty sure the wolf fish does).

I'm not sure, but I'm going to lean towards new species (or just new to me) or fake.

How come the picture is in black and white? and it kinda looks like someone did a cp job on it.

My first impression was its fake just something about the way that its photographed but if you look at it as an abys dweller than its easier to believe its a new species or harder to identify breed. Seems like every time a sub is sent to those depths they discover a new species.

i would think it was real if it didnt have copy and paste lines on the tail and head

Originally posted by The Exiled One
i would think it was real if it didnt have copy and paste lines on the tail and head

I dont see it where are you reffering?

if you look at a rock on the right hand side of the fish half of the rock is misalligned and you can follow a line where the pic is misalligned across the pic where it was copied and pasted.

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
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]

Originally posted by The Exiled One
if you look at a rock on the right hand side of the fish half of the rock is misalligned and you can follow a line where the pic is misalligned across the pic where it was copied and pasted.

Hmmm....well maybe but I dont think so. I have to ask the question of motive. I mean of all the crap to fake why this? Who stands to profit from this kind of exposure?

i really don't know why people try to pull hoaxes all they manage to do is to make harder to tell the difference between what is real and what is fake.

Duhhh! Went to bed last night after my last post to the board re : this fish. Couldn't help thinking something was wrong! Remembered it this morning - should have said rat tail, not ratfish! I got a bit confused with the name - v similar! Also the link to the video - didn't even get it then as did not have my glasses on!!! Shapewise they are very similar if you blur your eyes to +3 ( Moron!) There are several species of rat tail - it's v possible that this is a new species of one, but to me it looks like a rat tail. Here is a link to a pic

images.google.co.uk...://www.mbari.org/staff/oreilly/tiburon/rattail.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.mbari.org/staff/oreilly/tiburon/d ive1.html&h=243&w=320&sz=63&tbnid=vJexHwTzUohY8M:&tbnh=85&tbnw=113&hl=en&start=28&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drat%2Btail%2B%252B%2Bfish%26start%3D20%26svnum%3D 10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-USfficial_s%26sa%3DN

It looks like it was shot at 1400m frrom another ROV. Sorry for the confusion - in future I'll keep my mouth shut until I have my glasses on!

Ilooked around in some of my books and I think you might be right maldives. That is if its not fake

Duhhh! Went to bed last night after my last post to the board re : this fish. Couldn't help thinking something was wrong! Remembered it this morning - should have said rat tail, not ratfish!

D'oh! I'm so ashamed!

I too forgot all about the rat tail, and now that you mention it (and I've had time to use google's handy image search), the fit is perfect. The fin shape/size, jaw construction, eye placement, scale pattern, they all fit.

Very nicely done, I think you've nailed it.

Its got to be it. I knew it wasnt some stinken angler.

Thanks people! Sorry about the earlier cxxx/up! Man, did I feel stupid this morning! While we're on the topic of weird fish, there are soooooooooo many down there! Thing is the greater part of the surface of the Earth is a water environment, and we barely know it at all. I think it's something like 1% or less of the water environment has been explored. They are discovering new species all the time - think what a really concerted effort would turn up! The ole rat tail would be considered "normal" then !

It looks like a fish that i found on a website. they called it an "Oregon abyssal."

Heres the website people.whitman.edu...

Hi U4ik

Think "abyssal" refers to it being abyssal i.e. a species that lives at great depths - "Oregon" seems to refer to it being caught off of Newport, Oregon. It's a rattail. Good link though, thanks v much - another one to add to my "underwater" bookmarks folder! Love to be able to go down there and have a good shufti - there will be things we wouldn't believe could exist I think............

You guys are lucky. Not only am I an expert in entomology, but I am extremely knowledgeable about all kinds of animals. Especially the strange kinds.

The fish pictured is a rattail. It is also called the giant grenadier.

Here's another picture of the giant grenadier. They used to be common:

Here's another pic. Sorry to ruin anyone's dreams that this is a completely new rare kind of fish.

Hi thiopental,

think we're all agreed it's a rattail, but not sure how you can positively identify the actual species from the original poor quality photo, bearing in mind the apparent state of decay, and the fact that it's in b&w. There are several species of them as I'm sure you know so it is possible that this is a new one, but this is admittedly unlikely. Here's the link to the original pics -

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