Strange Fish Caught Off The Coast Of Nova Scotia

Looks more like a humpback angler fish.

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by Jibbs

No humpback.
No "fishing rod".

Big belly.

Nevermind... was beaten to it.

I was thinking humpback anglerfish, as well. Maybe a humpback anglerfish mated with a black swallower. What would we call that? A humpback swallower?

Originally posted by Tybrus

OK so it's strange and ugly but can I

Eat it?

Likes sea food


Wants to eat it

This ‘Longhead dreamer’ angler fish looks very similar also, if you imagine it led on its side on the deck of a boat. www.thedailystar.net...These types of angler fish are also found in waters off nova scotia, whereas Black swallowers are found in tropical waters.

I know this isn't what this fish is but the first thing I thought of was a football fish for some reason:

en.wikipedia.org...

I agree it looks like the angler fish too.

Maybe it is a hybrid

I, for one, welcome our new Aquatic Overlords!

All hail "BigTeeth the Black"!!!!!

reply to post by Tybrus


It looks like it could be one of the flaming floating head things in DOOM.

Actually, the longer I look at it, the more it looks to me like an obese eel. Which, to me, if it's not an eel, would indicate that it's probably the black swallower...given the swallower's eel-esque appearance.

reply to post by Phage


Bloated swim bladder due to the lack of pressure?

Looks like some sort of mutated pile of cow dung

reply to post by Phage


Phage to err is human...

and OP could you give us the source for that picture of the fish? Is there anything else we should know abou it?

The fish looks like it has some white substance on its right side of the mouth? Is this picture a fake?

Originally posted by Atzil321
This ‘Longhead dreamer’ angler fish looks very similar also, if you imagine it led on its side on the deck of a boat. www.thedailystar.net...These types of angler fish are also found in waters off nova scotia, whereas Black swallowers are found in tropical waters.

edit on 21-9-2011 by Atzil321 because: (no reason given)

I think this is the best match posted so far. Looks almost identical to me.

That is hideous!
but I guess if you cut off that ugly head and filet it, I guess I can dip it in some cornmeal and deep fry it for ya....but I will pass on that mess of fish.

reply to post by LifeInDeath

Yup. That one looks good. But I think that picture may be mislabeled. The problem is the missing "lure" (illicium). While male Chaenophryne longiceps do not have one, they only get to a length of 1.8 cm. I'm pretty sure that is bigger than that. The longhead dreamer also lacks a dorsal fin which the fish in that picture seems to have.

species-identification.org...
australianmuseum.net.au...

I still think it's a swallower.

As Phage has said, this fish is missing it's "rod" plus it's apparant size would poit toward it not being a Humpback Anglerfish. The Anglerfish mentioned ranges in size from 2-8" and the one pictured seems quite larger.

I would say it is almost certainly a Chiasmodon niger also known as a Black Swallower. I have actually seen one of these a couple of times. Once while working in the North Sea I seen one and once while doing a deepwater pipeline off of Trinidad.

If I can figure out how to upload media to a post I'll post some pics I have of some really strange deepwater creatures. One of the strangest is a Sea Pig. It really looks like an alien lifeform.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by PeterGriffin

 

Well the specimen in the picture is not laid out all nice and neat like the one in the drawing but yes I did compare them. I also compared it to this drawing:

And this image


It's a black swallower.

edit on 9/21/2011 by Phage because: (no reason given)

This fish has a body length that is nearly 8 times the size of the head. The OP's head is nearly a third
of the "body", of completely different shape, size and design.

reply to post by mastahunta

The image in the OP is looking at the fish head on to accentuate the teeth.
It is foreshortened, it's entire body is not visible.
Fore shortening

Crikie, she's a little beauty!