What Is This Mystery Fish? ~ Again ~
Posted by: Loren Coleman on March 12th, 2010
One of the oldest unsolved “image” mysteries I have had to deal with at Cryptomundo, starting in 2005, is what is shown on this postcard.
Can you identify this Mystery Fish found on this old postcard?
(Click on image to see full size version)
Is there a reader out there that can help?
The men in the picture look like military servicemen. They have been tentatively identified (from their belt buckets and hats) as US Marines in pre-1920s uniforms. Are they pre-World War I?
The surroundings appear as if this photograph was taken on a beach or island. The location has been tentatively identified as the Pacific, maybe the Philippines.
The fish seems to be over six feet long (notice the standard military stretcher lying under the cryptid). How long is a WWI-era stretcher?
Where are the fins on this cryptid, if it is a fish? If it is a giant salamander, then is this Japan or China? If it is a constructed fake, doesn’t it look rather too unbelievable to be taken seriously? What is it?
Send in a comment if you can enhance the knowledge of the surroundings, help solve the mystery, or know what this cryptid might be.
The postcard has been tentatively dated. It should be noted that the “Place Stamp Here” box is formed by the letters AZO, which allegedly date this card. All the AZO triangles are pointing upward, thus indicating a date for this postcard of 1904-18.
(Click on image to see full size version)
What is shown on the card?
(Click on image to see full size version, enhanced by shockbeton)
(Click image for full-size version)
(Click image for full-size version, provided by Todd DiLaMuca)
The photo has been changed to delete the mouth, to see what it looks like that way. However, the original does show a mouth or line on the image.
(Click image for full-size version, provided by Todd DiLaMuca)
The postcard photo has become such an enduring, enigmatic icon that it became part of the publisher’s design on the front of my new Simon and Schuster edition of Mysterious America: The Ultimate Guide to the Nation’s Weirdest Wonders, Strangest Spots, and Creepiest Creatures.
The International Cryptozoology Museum has an enlarged version of the postcard displayed in the museum to elicit more information on what it may be. If you can contribute to the museum’s survival through the non-tourist season, this would be most appreciated. Please click on the “Donate” button below (remember, the upper righthand “Cryptomundo” button is for the admin of the blog and that money does not reach the museum or Loren Coleman). Thanks everyone!
You may directly send a check or money order if in the USA, or, if outside the USA, an international postal money order written to
International Cryptozoology Museum
Loren Coleman, Director
661 Congress St.
Portland, ME 04101
USA
Open Wed-Sat, 11 am – 6 pm, Sundays Noon – 5 pm, Closed Mon-Tues; $5.00 admission, cash or check, all ages.
Thank you.
This postcard was contributed by reader Ms. Phyllis Mancz of Ohio to Loren Coleman.
- Similar Phenomena:
I maintain that it is some sort of shark that has been skinned and de-finned. The coloring on it looks like a skinned fish with the meat exposed. Im not sure what the lines coming away from the mouth are for but def not natural and maybe part of the skinning process.
I have always thought this picture shows a rock painted to look like a fish. My contribution to the discussion, which may have been made previously, is that the stamp box on the back appears to indicate that the post card was printed 1904 and 1918. See here for examples and dates of stamp boxed.
Does this additional “real photo” postcard circa 1912 showing US Navy shark fishing in Nicaragua lend any credibility to the “it’s a skinned shark” theory?
If the mystery picture is from Nicaragua, then the dates would be narrowed to 1910 to 1918 because the US presence there was from 1910 to 1933 but the card was printed between 1904 and 1918.
Looks very similar to the famous “photo” of the tatzelwurm of the alps.
the wrinkles of the “skin” around the neck made me think of a komodo dragon or perhaps some kind of monitor lizard. I think the size of the head is maybe too large compared to images of those creatures however. And there are no arms/legs visible… Now I think it may be a species of shark that has been decomposing a little bit. If you look through google images with a search of “shark decomposing” you find some images of basking sharks in particular, which somewhat resemble this image, except that basking sharks in the images are much larger than in this particular image.
It must be at an army training post given the drill sargents hat the one in the middle is wearing. Saying that this probably a hoax, it’s still common to creep out the new recruits during field training with monster stories. When I trained at lackland they had a tail about a a 2000 pound hog that ate a couple trainies that was still running lose.
I showed the picture to my fiancé, who has a degree in military history. He said the hats and belts like the ones seen were used up until WWII. He thinks the soldiers might be on Wake Island, in the North Pacific. Some quick Google Image Searches show that there are trees like the one in the background. We built a permanent base on the island in ‘41, but have had the island since 1899. Possibly part of the 1st Defense Battalion of the Marines, who served as the defenders of Wake Island. There was a military presence for several months before the war broke out, plenty of time to catch a weird fish and take a picture with it.
Just some food for thought.
Whenever I’ve seen this photo, my first impression is that of a snake’s head.
Images of anaconda’s head for comparison;
photo
photo
This critter is a possibility too, and its from South America.
rubber eel
Kinda matches the picture, in that the rubber eel is described as limbless and tailless, just a head and truck combo, though its normal size is generally 22″ or so.
What is the purpose of the hut behind the creature? If it is a field kitchen of some sort that would tell us something. It looks like it could be food storage of some kind.
I’m leaning toward a skinned and de-finned shark.
I think it looks like a frill shark, especially the large mouth and general shape. A much larger one than the ones found in Japan though.
Greetings All!
I find it having no evidence of limbs of any kind is odd. Also, if I was going to carry something like that, I wouldn’t have the “head” hanging off the end of the board. (Look underneath the thing) Why have the smaller tail supported, but not that big noggin? That makes me wonder if we don’t have two things stuck together. Don’t ask me what things though!
Looks to me like a finned shark that has also had the jaws cut out. Cutting the jaws away from the shark explains the larger than normal mouth structure. Take your hand and cover only the mouth; then look only at the eyes and nose? Looks simiar to carcharias carcharodon.
Fireberg wrote:
“Take your hand and cover only the mouth; then look only at the eyes and nose? Looks simiar to carcharias carcharodon.”"
I agree that the head looks like a shark but not a great white (Carcharodon carcharias). The great white has a noticeable pointed snout. This animal has a squared off squat snout, rather like the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier).
It’s most likely a Tiger Shark (Galeocerdo cuvier). Their head is very recognizable with a short nose and a broad head. The jaws have been removed; the cut shown is typical for removing the jaws. Jaws are not attached to skull, you pull jaws forward cut around the jaw bones back through the Gill slits up and forward to above the 1st gill then cut the cartilage at the back of the jaw it then can be removed. It has been skinned and the blood line (also called a mud line in other fish) shows up well down the center of the shark’s side.
Looks like a skinned shark of some kind layed out next to a trash hut. That’s an eagle globe & anchor on the guy’s campaign hat so they’re Marines.
I googled usmc campaign hat and found this website discussing them.
The dome shaped peak of it would correspond with it being a 1920-1942 model which it goes on further to say saw service in the Pacific.
Images of finned and gutted sharks, heads removed as well, for comparison with mikerking and jimbo.
finned and gutted sharks
original site
I think something is being missed here.
Though it is undoubtedly a skinned and definned shark (a tiger shark or possibly a decayed shortfin mako), what we are actually looking at is the animal lying on it’s side. We are therefore seeing a top view of it and thus with the peculiar laceration it almost appears to have the head of a salamander/tiktaalik, with eyes on the top of its head.
I think with this knowledge the mystery fish can be revealed a skinned and definned pacific shark lying on it’s side.
Looks like a bull shark and missing its dorsal fin.
Oh, bugger this thing. The more I look at it, the more I’m convinced that this photograph serves, in cryptozoological circles, as nothing more than a fancy Rorschach test – what the viewer identifies it as says much, much more about them than it does about our Mystery Fish.
If we had some way of getting a precise verification on the location in the photo, we might be able to do a little bit of digging to see who was there at the time, and whether anyone there knew what this thing was.
Also, if this thing is exactly as it appears (that is, laying on its underside, so we’re looking at it side-on), that thing’s skull would make a nice little trophy for a CZ collection.
Enhance photo to your max, check out crease in knee of man on our left. Is that for real?