Mysterious "Tattooed" Fish Caught In Phillipines

a reply to: Kandinsky

Oh I got ya. I thought you just meant the general color of the fish....It's amazing how bright they are when alive and turn flat grey when dead and no rice paper to preserve the flesh color.

Look how this one starts to darken almost immediately.....It's hard to catch on film but if you have ever seen it in person you know how much of a change there is...

originally posted by: Naturallywired
Fish feel no pain, therefore no suffering. They're nervous system does not work that way( nervous system and lateral lines and such). Needless to say that fish is weird and I mean weird in a possible uncanny macabre voodoo like way.

Study suggests fish do not feel pain.

I doubt that sincerely they show all the signs of fear and pain.

Numerous studies in recent years have demonstrated that fish feel and react to pain. For example, when rainbow trout had painful acetic acid or bee venom injected into their sensitive lips, they stopped eating, rocked back and forth on the tank floor, and rubbed their lips against the tank walls. Fish who were injected with a harmless saline solution didn’t display this abnormal behavior.

a reply to: GuidedKill

I remember an illustration from a 1950's era encyclopedia showings commercial tuna fisherman using lift poles, so they have apparently used that method for years.

a reply to: GuidedKill

Wahoo and mahi (dorado/dolphin) are stunning when you first pull them from the water.

a reply to: ZIPMATT

It's definitely got heraldic symbols. A shield, probably a crown above that. There's a bunch of scrollwork with looks like ferns. Looks like either a name or a motto written with Latin script. It's also backwards, so if it was a thin piece of something that was wrapped around the fish, it was face down. Looks like there are two E's visible, an X and what might be a W or possible N.

I'm going to guess it's some sort of brand name.

I also have to wonder if it was something that caused a change in the fish's skin, if the image left behind could have grown with the fish because the first thing that pops to mind is a champagne or wine label.

a reply to: theantediluvian

The fish appear to be a marlin and appears to be fairly well grown. The patterns don't seem distorted much and therefore the coloring, whatever the cause, had to happen rather recently.

Also, if it is indeed a marlin, marlins can change colors (it can be quite beautiful.)

I'm calling Mahi Mahi, a fish so nice, they named it twice.

The tattoo is most likely transfer, altho I've never seen it on any fish I've handled.

OK! I GOT IT!


It's truly really in plain sight ATS folk. Do you see what this is? It's a tagged swordfish or a sail fish imo. But...

In actuality it's a...



TREASURE MAP!

originally posted by: TobyFlenderson
a reply to: theantediluvian

The fish appear to be a marlin and appears to be fairly well grown. The patterns don't seem distorted much and therefore the coloring, whatever the cause, had to happen rather recently.

Also, if it is indeed a marlin, marlins can change colors (it can be quite beautiful.)

The one on the left with the weird markings is a sailfish without a doubt. You can tell by the sail tucked back on his dorsal fin. Marlin don't have that paper accordion looking sail along the entire dorsal fin. Marlin are short and stubby with only a very small section of the dorsal extending back almost the to tail.

Problem with the one in the right is I can't see past his small tail fin rudders and see his actual tail. It could be a marlin or sailfish but the dorsal fin is not visiable nor is the tail or head.



Btw I know tail rudders is not a technical term lol.

a reply to: GuidedKill

Thanks. I'm pretty sure sail fish change their colors as well, don't they? Perhaps its the world's most creative sail fish.

The Aquaman did this.

I hear he's a good tattoo artist. Mum's the word.

Anyway this is interesting.

Found a couple more images at Metro UK:




Looks like it says "EXILE" on the one side. Assuming other side is also 5 characters.

Sorry to be a party pooper..I guess it was the fishermans t-shirt that he wrapped the fish with
news.abs-cbn.com...
Still very cool

a reply to: vonclod

Nice one.

Problem solved!!

So what the hell do they print their T-shirts with over there?? How did it transfer to a fish and not on to him?

a reply to: theantediluvian

They wrapped the fish in some kind of printed paper and the ink transferred. Or Aquaman opened a tattoo shop.

a reply to: Kandinsky

I can only guess something in the slime/mucous that most fish have on them to protect may have caused the ink to leach out??
It's really cool in any case.

a reply to: vonclod

It's nice to have a definitive solution to an OP.

Tattooing with a machine on a fish, assuming that would tear up their scales, would likely be done by dye injections.

Dye Injection- Needles are used to injecting dye under the skin. Because only a small area is affected, the fish must be subjected to many punctures to achieve the desired effect. The popular painted glassfish are dyed this way, using fluorescent colored paints. Another recent fad is to use dye injection to tattoo patterns, such as hearts, on the fish.

Source
Can't be pleasant in the least.

originally posted by: vonclod
Sorry to be a party pooper..I guess it was the fishermans t-shirt that he wrapped the fish with
news.abs-cbn.com...
Still very cool

Yup, nice find however.

originally posted by: vonclod
Sorry to be a party pooper..I guess it was the fishermans t-shirt that he wrapped the fish with
news.abs-cbn.com...
Still very cool

Mystery solved! Thanks!

a reply to: vonclod
Well that was a very neat mystery. I'm with Kandinsky, what the hell kinda ink are they using?