Alien of the deep: 'Winged' green-eyed creature stuns fishermen
Some fish look odd, but a mysterious, green-eyed fish recently pulled out of Nova Scotia's waters is downright bizarre.
The roughly 3-foot-long (1 meter) fish had a long pointy nose, a long narrow tail and two prominent fins that bear a resemblance to the wings of a bird.
Scott Tanner was about 30 days into a 42-day fishing trip when he spotted the freaky fish. "Everybody was just like, 'Wow, that's weird, never seen one of those before,'" said Tanner, who is a fisherman from Nova Scotia. "It was super-long, longest one I've ever done." [See Photos of the Bizarre Fish and Other Freaky-Looking Fish]
The fishermen didn't catch the fish on purpose. It was part of the bycatch during a fishing trip for redfish and cod, Tanner said. The fish wasn't moving when Tanner saw it, and after taking its photo, he watched a conveyor belt on the boat whisk it away and drop it back into the ocean.
But, after Tanner finished the job and returned home, he researched the fish online. It looked like a knifenose chimaera. He posted his photos to Facebook on March 4, and they went viral. The Daily Mail called it a "terrifying 'alien fish' with wings and glowing eyes," and dozens of articles were written about the unusual gray creature.
But what is a knifenose chimaera? There are different types of chimaera (also called ratfish), and the one Tanner spotted has several aliases, including longnose chimaera, narrownose chimaera, bigspine spookfish and bentnose rabbitfish. Scientists call it Harriotta raleighana.
