Comments on: New Mystery Fish Photos

By: C009

C009 — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:27:15 +0000

I’d say the mystery fish in the postcard is some kind of sturgeon. As the quality of the image is poor and you can’t see the whole carcass well enough to say (as it’s in a funny angle on the ground), this is my best guess… My second guess is that it’s a shark of some kind.

If you google “sturgeon” (images), you will come across quite many pics, even some old ones, which resemble this one.

E.g. and

By: pcs800

pcs800 — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 18:57:33 +0000

Did anyone notice the shadow of a person at the right of the prop photo? The light casting this shadow can’t be the sun, the shadow is too precise as if cast from a smaller, closer stage light. You can also see the light hitting the wall near the shadow.

As for the snakefish, I copied the photo and analyzed it. If you bring it up to pixel level, you can see defined “stripes” where they had created matching markings on the head and the body, and a defined seam between the two.

Even without doing all that, at first glance you can see it is a movie set just by the clothing, props and lights.

By: mohfish

mohfish — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 22:52:25 +0000

I’m late to the game, having just found the site.

Mystery fish number one is no fish. The blunt jaw and hooded eyes point to a reptilian. I would guess that the most likely location is the Phillipines, possibly Indonesia.

Fish number two is likely a tigerfish, but, quite posibly, a nile perch, which is related to the tigerfish, and gets quite heft.

By: omdata

omdata — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 23:31:03 +0000

The postcard fish looks a lot like a finned shark. Was the photo taken in/around Japan/China maybe? Seems more likely to be a prop, though.

By: tomvason

tomvason — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 06:11:18 +0000

I would love to know where this picture on the postacard was taken. The man on the left looks exactly like my late father. My father was stationed in the pacific during WWII. If it is him, we have no copy of this pic and I never remember him saying anything about it. Very interesting.

By: chirundu

chirundu — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 04:53:33 +0000

” Scrabbydoo responds: August 21st, 2007 at 1:47 am

I agree it’s a Tiger Fish. Berween the Tiger Fish and the Candiru Fish I’m not EVER swimming in the Congo River!! ”

A Tigerfish would definitely not be on your list of worries if you were to swim in the Congo or Zambezi rivers as I have never heard of them attacking man, what you would be worried about is the crocodiles! Now there is a real scary “fish”!

I have been fishing in the Zambezi many times, I grew up only 3 hours away from it and have caught many tigerfish, which are a great sport fish to catch, not that great to eat as they are very bony. If there is anyone interested you can actually go on a fishing safari in Zimbabwe or Zambia to catch tiger and other species of fish in the Zambezi.

By: kj197728

kj197728 — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 21:49:31 +0000

It is a tiger fish. They are in the Congo river system. This is not a mystery fish. The old postcard is hard to tell what that is.

By: MattBille

MattBille — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 21:11:15 +0000

“Fish and visitors stink after three days” – Ben Franklin. The postcard mystery fish has been around way over three days, and I’m sure I speak for many when I say I did some research, took my best shot, and have now retired from the business

By: todfoulk

todfoulk — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:41:49 +0000

African Tiger Fish, Hydrocynus vittatus or one of the 5 Hydrolycus species. One can you-tube fisherman hauling these bad boys in. And canduru are South American Scrappydoo, feel free to jump in the Zambezi anytime. Myth busted.

Look up the etymology of Hydrolycus. Apt no?

By: tapper

tapper — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 19:24:55 +0000

The “fish” in the postcard is doctored. The pic reminded me of some old dino pics and books that I had in grade school. The head is that of a prehistoric amphibian. Perhaps a Greerpeton, Metoposaurus or Paracyclotosaurus.