Pictures of the deep-sea fish were posted on Facebook on Friday morning by the Te Papa Museum, after the fish was sent in to be identified by Claudia and Glenys Howse
A weird black fish that looks like a creature from another planet has surfaced in New Zealand.
Pictures of the deep-sea fish were posted by Te Papa Museum's
Facebook page on Friday after the fish was caught by Claudia and Glenys Howse in the Bay of Islands.
'This weird creature is likely to be a species of Frogfish, but we won't know until we have a chance to examine it closely!'
'Frogfishes have the fastest bite of any vertebrate. Their mouths expands at the speed approaching a .22 rifle bullet - and that's in a medium 800x denser than air,' reads Te Papa Museum's post.
According to the complete Australian fishing encyclopedia, frogfish are ambush predators and can eat almost anything that will fit into their large mouths. This includes other fish as well as crabs and shrimp.
Black frogfish: This weird creature is likely to be a species of Frogfish, but we won't know until we have a chance to examine it closely
The photo stirred hundreds of bewildered comments from people, 'That looks like an alien!', 'Can you eat it?' asked one man.
'More like a frog-fish-bird!' Wrote Robyn Wendt,
Comment: In the last few weeks strange sounds have also been heard in the Netherlands, Morocco, United States and Singapore. For more information on this mysterious phenomenon, also recorded in ancient texts, read:
SOTT Exclusive: Strange sounds are back: 'Sky trumpets' heard in the Netherlands, the UK and Morocco