Submitted by Andrew Hebda
This strange looking fish, believed to be Atlantic wolffish, was found at Big Glace Bay beach in June.
NEW WATERFORD — Jason Brown describes a dead fish he found on Big Glace Bay beach as ‘Cape Breton’s sea monster.’
“It is the ugliest scariest fish I have ever seen,” said the New Waterford man. “It looks like a piranha, there is that many teeth in it and probably half an inch long. It is a scary looking thing.”
Brown, his partner Kyla McPherson and their son Landon, 2, were on Big Glace Bay beach a few days ago when they made the find.
“We just had the baby out to play in the sand,” he said. “It looks like ‘Tremors’ that horror movie where worms come out of the sand. I have never seen anything like it.”
Brown said he can’t imagine this type of fish being common to the area and was hoping to have it identified.
“I wish the whole fish had been there so I could have seen a little better what it would look like. I would like to find out what it is and how it got here.”
Pam Davidson, spokesperson for the Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, said after sharing the photograph with officials in the department, it is believed it to be a wolffish, which is a protected species.
Andrew Hebda, curator of zoology with the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, agrees it is likely an Atlantic wolffish.
Hebda liked Brown’s description of it looking like a ‘sea monster.’
“They are sea monsters, absolutely, I will buy that,” he said.
In mid-June, Hebda received pictures of several dead fish on Big Glace Bay beach from Dr. Katherine Jones, associate professor in the biology department at Cape Breton University.
“We were hoping to get a hold of the head, then we could confirm what it is,” he said.
However by the time Jones returned to the beach, the fish had disappeared.
Looking at Brown’s picture, Hebda determined the fish was the same as the first pictures he received. He said it appears the fish became covered in sand and then later uncovered.
“I know it is the same one as you can see the same line with the same hook in his mouth.”
Hebda said it seems a bit on the big side to be a wolffish, but there is a possibility because of the teeth.
“There is an outside chance it could be a wolffish, that is the strongest possibility. But there are also some large angler fish with a similar kind of head, although the teeth tend to be more delicate.”
He said the big teeth of a wolffish are used for crunching crustaceans and sea urchins.
“Those are really big heads, probably about 8-10 inches top to bottom,” he said.
He is hoping that the fish head will be sent to him and then he can make a positive identification.
Hebda said because there is a hook in the mouth, someone fishing may have realized it is a protected species and dumped it.
According to the Fisheries and Oceans Canada website, the Atlantic wolffish and northern wolffish are among 103 aquatic species listed under the federal Species at Risk Act and given protection as of June 2004.
The site says the number of Atlantic wolffish in Canadian waters declined by 87 per cent from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s.
It was noted the wolffish can be found across the north Atlantic Ocean from southern Newfoundland to the Barents Sea and in the western North Atlantic, off west Greenland and Southern Labrador and in the Strait of Belle Isle, as well as the Scotian Shelf and in the Gulf of Maine and Bay of Fundy.
Source: http://www.ngnews.ca/News/Local/2012-08-09/article-3048923/Strange-fish-likely-wolffish%3A-officials/1
“It is the ugliest scariest fish I have ever seen,” said the New Waterford man. “It looks like a piranha, there is that many teeth in it and probably half an inch long. It is a scary looking thing.”
Brown, his partner Kyla McPherson and their son Landon, 2, were on Big Glace Bay beach a few days ago when they made the find.
“We just had the baby out to play in the sand,” he said. “It looks like ‘Tremors’ that horror movie where worms come out of the sand. I have never seen anything like it.”
Brown said he can’t imagine this type of fish being common to the area and was hoping to have it identified.
“I wish the whole fish had been there so I could have seen a little better what it would look like. I would like to find out what it is and how it got here.”
Pam Davidson, spokesperson for the Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, said after sharing the photograph with officials in the department, it is believed it to be a wolffish, which is a protected species.
Andrew Hebda, curator of zoology with the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, agrees it is likely an Atlantic wolffish.
Hebda liked Brown’s description of it looking like a ‘sea monster.’
“They are sea monsters, absolutely, I will buy that,” he said.
In mid-June, Hebda received pictures of several dead fish on Big Glace Bay beach from Dr. Katherine Jones, associate professor in the biology department at Cape Breton University.
“We were hoping to get a hold of the head, then we could confirm what it is,” he said.
However by the time Jones returned to the beach, the fish had disappeared.
Looking at Brown’s picture, Hebda determined the fish was the same as the first pictures he received. He said it appears the fish became covered in sand and then later uncovered.
“I know it is the same one as you can see the same line with the same hook in his mouth.”
Hebda said it seems a bit on the big side to be a wolffish, but there is a possibility because of the teeth.
“There is an outside chance it could be a wolffish, that is the strongest possibility. But there are also some large angler fish with a similar kind of head, although the teeth tend to be more delicate.”
He said the big teeth of a wolffish are used for crunching crustaceans and sea urchins.
“Those are really big heads, probably about 8-10 inches top to bottom,” he said.
He is hoping that the fish head will be sent to him and then he can make a positive identification.
Hebda said because there is a hook in the mouth, someone fishing may have realized it is a protected species and dumped it.
According to the Fisheries and Oceans Canada website, the Atlantic wolffish and northern wolffish are among 103 aquatic species listed under the federal Species at Risk Act and given protection as of June 2004.
The site says the number of Atlantic wolffish in Canadian waters declined by 87 per cent from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s.
It was noted the wolffish can be found across the north Atlantic Ocean from southern Newfoundland to the Barents Sea and in the western North Atlantic, off west Greenland and Southern Labrador and in the Strait of Belle Isle, as well as the Scotian Shelf and in the Gulf of Maine and Bay of Fundy.
Source: http://www.ngnews.ca/News/Local/2012-08-09/article-3048923/Strange-fish-likely-wolffish%3A-officials/1
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