Comments on: Name the Mystery Fish Revisited

By: acilletam

acilletam — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 06:04:18 +0000

It looks a lot like a Mekong Giant Catfish. Check out the pics here

By: CryptoInformant

CryptoInformant — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 16:28:58 +0000

I’ve looked closer, and still see a Mosasaur with fins folded out of view to look like an eel.

By: Mnynames

Mnynames — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 23:44:29 +0000

I believe this is the item that first drew me to Cryptomundo, so it’s kinda fun to see it again. A little less fun is seeing all the same old suggestions tossed about again, but it’s still a good way to have a discussion and reach some sort of consensus. Here are some of my thoughts (Forgive me if someone else has already mentioned them, I haven’t read all the 200+ comments)-

The hat could just as easily be a state trooper or park ranger hat, so I’m not sure we should be so quick to label it military.

I’ve been looking at the “mouth” as an extended cut mark, presumeably starting at the actual mouth, but I think it’s also possible that the curved area could be an operculum (gill flap) rather than a cut- whoever cut it simply connected the mouth opening to the gill opening.

There are some fins beneath the animal, and I believe on the tail as well (Rather than being cut off).

Except for the eye and the rather blunt nose, none of the visible features suggests a shark at all, especially not the tail or the striation along the exposed fins. If indeed there is an operculum, than this is definitely not a shark.

Has anyone been able to identify the white objects in the shed (Frankly, they kinda look like toilets to me)? If these could be identified, then that would go a long way to help determine the when and the where…

By: Najhira

Najhira — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 01:32:15 +0000

The shirts they are wearing couldn’t be before WWI. The tiger shark is similar but where are the gills? Anyone notice the pile of what looks like fins in the background. The coloration could be damage from a blade during a skinning process.

I really can’t think of an explanation for the thing that looks like an eye.

My guess is some kind of shark with fins and jaw harvested, probably Hawaii I hope we can find a definite answer.

By: shovethenos

shovethenos — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 04:29:17 +0000

Maybe some progress could be made looking into the origin again. Where did Phyliss obtain the postcard from again?

By: shovethenos

shovethenos — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 04:21:32 +0000

I don’t think much narrowing can be done in the way of location. The trees in the picture appear to be palms, so you can’t really say anything more significant than the climate is likely tropical or semi-tropical. You really can’t rule out any of the tropical or semi-tropical areas of the world.

By: One Eyed Cat

One Eyed Cat — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 20:03:05 +0000

Checking the entire photo I believe you are seeing relected light on the snout from the sand. Still it does make the snout not quite so blockish.

Has anybody else noticed the wrinkle just above the horizonal line just before the curved line starts. That still looks to me like what one would see at the rear termination of the mouth.

By: chrysischylde

chrysischylde — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 19:24:58 +0000

Has anyone else noticed the discoloration on the wood right in front of the “fish”’s snout? If you enlarge it, it looks like the dark mouth line extends past the snub like snout, and there is a light angular area, that looks like someone had erased the sharper snout of a shark. Opinions??

By: One Eyed Cat

One Eyed Cat — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 14:56:45 +0000

First, the postcard has been shown to be no later than 1918, so 1930’s is out.

Okay the perspective is one thing that gives me trouble about it being a shark. It is not a direct side view as the front part of the snout is visible. Instead of a typical cone shape to the head, it reminds me more of a child’s playing block in shape. I can by following the dark area near the body ‘top’ see an area where something like a dorsal fin could have been, but that could also be the pigment in the dark line.

Two have now said the ‘tail’ area looks to have been cut off, but the perspective makes it hard for me to see that.

We have a strange creature sometime between 1903-1918 at a possible America holding in the south Pacific. It is a pity a desendent of one of those men hasn’t found this site and related the family story about that postcard. You know there has to be a story there.

By: Allan Sil

Allan Sil — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 13:58:36 +0000

My guess is that it is the remains of a shark about 15 feet long that was taken somewhere near a Marine Corp facility such as Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii. The year looks like early 1930s. Several things get harvested by asian fisherman, all fins, including the tail, and perhaps the skin.

The jaws, which are the only hard bone in a shark, would be taken as a set for sale to tourists. The jaw removal, would require cutting the head to allow the jaws to be removed. The structure of the snout is pure shark. They may have tried
to make it look more mysterious by extending the gill loops with scratches aft of the gill slits or it may just be lucky lighting hiding the gills.