What is that? Fisherman catches creepy mystery creature
Murmansk, Russia - Horror lurks in the North Pacific, where fishermen have made a particularly strange catch. But what in the world could the bizarre sea animal be?
Roman Fedortsov often uses social media to show what he gets up to on board a Russian ocean-going trawler.
Now the sailor has shared spine-chilling footage of a creature with almost square proportions and a menacing face.
Fine blood vessels can be seen under the shimmering purple skin and its mouth is half-open.
Many users commented that they felt reminded of an alien head – or their own face when they wake up in the morning!
Scary critter raises questions as fishfluencer shows off his catch
"That is a Smooth Lumpfish (Aptocyclus ventricosus), a species of deepwater fish found in the northern Pacific ocean," explains Ichthyologist (fish scientist) @fishbruh in the comments.
The species is closely related to the lumpfish, an edible fish that is prized by connoisseurs for its caviar.
The smooth lumpfish has an average body length of 6 - 44 cm (2.4 - 17.3 in) and body weight of 0.05 - 4.20 kg (0.11 - 9.26 lbs)
These fascinating predatory fish prefer to hunt jellyfish and sometimes crabs.
Although they are considered deep-sea fish and venture to depths of up to 1,700 meters (about a mile), they occasionally come close to the surface.
Cover photo: Collage: Screenshots/Instagram/@rfedortsov_official_account