A fisherman named Eric Osinkie made an unusual discovery while fishing in the Hudson Valley, New York. He came across a marine animal with a remarkably strange mouth and immediately shared photos of the creature on the Catskill Outdoors Facebook group. In the caption, he explained that he had been fishing for elusive catskill creek trout but ended up catching a new species instead.
“Went fishing for the fish that seem to always be right out of my grasp the catskill creek trout had 2 hooked lost one fumbling for my net and the other snapped my line but I did catch a new Species today have a look,” Osinkie captioned the post, as per media reports.
Describing the catch as the “weirdest” he had ever encountered, Osinkie likened the creature’s mouth to the Sarlacc pit from Star Wars. Surprisingly, he had mistakenly thought it was a stick at first.
Looks like eel-leech hybrid
The animal, resembling a cross between an eel and a leech, measured two feet in length. Osinkie expressed his excitement at seeing such a creature in person.
“I knew what it was as soon as I picked it up out of my net,” he said, adding, “It was cool. I’ve never seen one in person before”.
After sharing the images on Facebook, Osinkie’s post quickly went viral, amassing nearly 500 comments and over 500 shares.
Internet users were bewildered by the strange appearance of the creature. Some compared it to the alien from the movie “Alien” or referenced similar creatures seen on the show “River Monsters.” The consensus was that it looked like something out of a scary movie or outer space.
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Newsweek reported, based on information from the New York State Department of Environment Conservation (DEC), that the creature was identified as a sea lamprey. This species is parasitic and feeds on other fish by attaching itself to them using its suction disk mouth and sharp teeth. It punctures the victim’s skin and consumes its body fluids.
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