Name the Mystery Fish

but whatever happened to that compiled list of ideas…

it only reached 75?

Any prize fish (caught or found) worth photographing would either be strung up by its tail, held by the three men, or if a bit rotten- it would be at their feet and they would be standing or kneeling behind it. The lucky fisherman photos at the local bait shop always have the same format.

More likely a windsock or kite. Note the frayed canvas edge below the neck. Also, the stick aligned with the “fish” has looped string going from the stick to the edge of the canvas fish clearly visible at a couple of points. The crudely painted face and the daubing of paint along the sides, lack of body fins, pointed nose, cartoony way the mouth line directly connects to gill slit, faintly visible ribs of a wooden framework, canvas weave showing in body paint, paper-mache look of head.

Could be a joke mascot for a barracks, remnant of a prank, or local souvenir immortalized in a postcard for the friends back home.

I’d name him Eddy..

Here’s my 2million cents on the first 75 suggestions!

1) it’s not a squid
2) it doesn’t look fake
3) it doesn’t look like Silurus at all - Silurus has a tiny, forward facing mouth in comparison. At this point I’d say the head looks more croc/alligator/caiman like. In addition, I think the caudal (tail) fin is visible - lying on it’s side. Silurus has long dorsal and anal fins that join to the caudal fin - very different to this critter’s tail shape.
4) I doubt it’s skinned - why bother? This looks like a “we just dragged this out of the sea” photo. If you want a photo of a mammoth like that, you’d take it before skinning it.
5) Agree at this stage the head *looks* croc like - but the tail fin doesn’t.
6) rotten shark? Hmm… body shape is more eel-like - although admittedly sharks come in many many different shapes - and let’s face it - we don’t know what this is, so why not a shark?
7) How long’s a fathom? Let’s assume the guys are about 5′5.. then the fish is about 8′. nahrwal? no. the eye is in completely the wrong position - and whales have vertically flattened tails, not laterally - the stripe on the side of this fish shows that at the tail, the body is laterally compressed and lying on its side
9) Nurse shark? Ok - head shape is good, but there is no indication that dorsal fins have rotted off. In addition, look at the size of this thing’s mouth. And it appears to have a single gill cover - not gill slits as per sharks
10) Mekong Catfish? Ok - I’m liking this suggestion. I too thought of SE Asia - but only because of the palm trees. I also thought of South American freshwater fish - but I think this photo’s on an ocean beach. The Mekong is slightly narrower anterior to the tail - I still think this looks like an eel with a huge head.
11) ah the pirarucu - and that would be the south american fish i thought of. our photographed friend does not appear to have scales - so either s/he *is* skinned as previously suggested, or not a pirarucu. Also - the snout is far too large, the eye is not far back enough and sits more on top of the head than with the pirarucu
12) Dunkleosteus? That’s new to me. Does it mean “dark bones”? From the linked animation, Dunkleosteus has eyes far further forward. Notwithstanding eye position - I like this suggestion for its head shape. Still, the caudal fin looks wrong.
15) mouth looks larger than it is - I agree. it’s actually very hard to decide where the mouth really ends - but either way, it definately has a large mouth, and likely a large bite - which supports the shark theory again; and as you say, palm trees. but which shark? who knows!
16) snakehead? i like this one. for starters, the body, tail and head shape are right on. the blotchy skin colour matches, and the pectoral fin is in the right position for where we presume this fish once had it’s pecs.. our friend seems to have a slightly larger than expected head for a snakehead - and probably its body is a little deflated by being dead. the eye appears just slightly further back than expected for a snakehead - but I’d say all features match nearly enough, given the circumstances to say this is a really good guess. If you say the record length is 1.8m, then this might be a new species - just a little larger. (or a giant). just not quite the pointy mouth we’d expect. but so far - this ranks closest.
18) coelecanth? I’d be surprised that Loren posed the question then! There is more flesh in the tail of the coelecanth, and it is a rounder shape, too (where the fin rays begin).
19) sturgeon? our critter lacks the upturned pointed snout. And sturgeon seem much more plate-like to me (although I don’t know all 20 species personally!)
20) the men are marines? no pun intended I presume! But I’m with you - initial thought “gator” - but then there’s the tail, which itself also defies “shark”..
21) wels? another good suggestion! Some wels have deep-set bodies, but some appear more slender like this one. Look at this photo, rotate it right, mirror it, and enlarge, and it’s a pretty good match - admittedly, being hung up, and from its jaw, will affect it’s overall appearance - but again the caudal fin is a very good match - there is a slight depression in the skull of our friend which appears in other photos of the wels. likewise the dip in body shape behind the head, and notice too that “spare tyre” of apparent flesh behind the gill cover. The shape of the curve on the gill cover, and the apparent lack of dorsal fins matches too. good suggestion. beats the snakehead.
22) pygmy sperm whale? again - my problem with mammals is that their caudal fins are dorso-ventrally compressed, unlike this critter.
23) cuttlefish?? now *that* *I* don’t see at all!
24) oh yes - sharks can very much be upstream in rivers, even in straight fresh water.
25) hm. that shark again. the more i look, the more the snout and mouth say “shark” while the tail says “wels”…
29) the garbage. i like that observation. i noticed the bins, but didn’t think how they might apply here. don’t know if skinning a shark will make it appear not to have multiple gill slits - but your reasoning goes to explain one way in which this thing might end up with an apparently larger than expected head. Still - the lines seem clean - that is, no break between an untouched head and a filleted body…
31) a silure is a wels? doh! i’ve discounted the silure, but said yes to the wels. are you suuuure? in defence - after looking up “wels” - I’ve now seen more. But the mouth area is still a bit ambiguous.
33) Ahh - salamander! Now that came to mind too! In fact, I was thinking “GIANT AXOLOTYL!!!” You mention Andrius davidianus. I couldn’t find it online, but here’s Andruis japonicus and here as well. It certainly is similar at the head and body - but we have no legs! ANd probably we also have a caudal fin - neither japonicus photo shows us the tail unfortunately.
36) OK - oarfish certainly get big, but their very laterally flattened - unlike the head of our critter.
39) genetically mutated fish post atomic? Plausible suggestion (although usually such creatures don’t live long enough to grow big.)
40) Christian - I like your approach. I still have difficulty with the shark carcass because I think the photo shows a caudal fin with rays, unlike the fleshier shark caudals (unless I’m missing a shark - and believe me, I’m probably missing thousands!)
42) land on the other side / freshwater - or we could be looking across a bay, too… Side Note: I had trouble working out how long the snout was - but given the angle of the mens’ shadows, I think the animal’s snout is longer, with the foremost part in shadow.
47) Lungfish - good observation of eye position and size - but I think lungfish have more diminutive and rounder eyes. Also, the junction between the caudal rays and body is more abrubt in our critter.
48) Decayed bottom feeding shark. I’m tending this way too except for the caudal fin rays. Catsharks are about the right shape, but too small.
53) The caudal peduncle. Ditto. I used - and erased - the word “peduncle” about a dozen times to this point - I wasn’t sure if I was remembering it right. But ditto.
59) Again - I like the trashcan / washed up corpse suggestion. Megamouth? Here’s one that *appears* not to have fins, much like our fellow, and this one shows the jawline going way back behind the eye. .. good body shape - barely visible dorsals.
60) whale or porpoise from on top? where is the blowhole?
61) lungfish again - wow! love your link! aww - i want one as a pet!
63) Gunshot wound - I cannot see; I just see skin colouration. Stretcher - I can visualise that. Tiger Shark? Eye is too far back, and again the caudal peduncle…
65) tarpon? - the tarpon has large scales, and a rounder eye with an iris.. I just can’t see it.
66) Gunshot again. OK - I can see the pattern is slightly different to the body markings. So it was shot.
67) Dorsalectus elusivii? Doh! I just knew I shouldn’t have bothered googling that!
74) Snake/Eel mix? Exactly!
75) Shark from above? Then it’s coloured on only one side