Humanoid fish

created by #jakov#

(thing) by #jakov# (7.6 y) (print) ? (I like it!) Wed Dec 06 2000 at 9:41:49

Just like the Mediterranean Bear, this animal is endemic, meaning it exists only in one particular location. Here , that would be in Lika and north Dalmatia regions in Croatia. This sick thing looks like a human and can be found only in underground rivers of Croatia. If you actually get to see it in some impossible event, you will encounter a half-foot long super-pale animal that has a head, a tail, a pair of legs and a pair of what seem to be arms (it even has fingers on them!). It is classified as an amphibian, meaning it lays eggs and all that stuff. Horrible.

Thx to Heyoka for providing a Latin name: Proteus anguinus. Now you can search for it on the net and see that it really does exist(TM). NewsFlash! The article on Proteus anguinus actually says the species diversified into 7 different ones accross Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. So the "humanoid fish" I was talking about might be the underground-river sick-white small one, unlike the Proteus anguinus that is slightly reddish and quite long.

(thing) by heyoka (1.5 wk) (print) ? (I like it!) 2 C!s Wed Dec 06 2000 at 10:50:15

He's not making this up.

It's known as Proteus anguinus and even though it's called a human fish it's actually an amphibian of the Proteidae family and is distantly related to the newt. The creature was known locally as the Mocheril, which in Slovenian means "the one that burrows into wetness." It is the only known cave amphibian and the largest among proper cave animals.

It's usually about 25 centimeters long when fully grown, with a flat tail and a swimming fin. It has two pairs of legs. Living deep underground, it's completely adapted to the dark with no pigment in its skin and eyes that have atrophy once the animal passes the foetal stage. Its whole body, though, is extremely sensitive to light, smell and electrical currents. It's not an effective predator: it has a blunt muzzle and small teeth, but it eats small animals, shrimp, and insect larvae. it can survive without food for a surprisingly long time (one test showed that in one instance in captivity it fasted for twelve years).

Very little is known about their reproduction. And, given the difficulty of getting to their favoured locations, little is known about the extent of the population. The habitat is very limited - deep underwater caves and rivers in Slovenia, a few square miles in Italy and Croatia, and the territory reaching down to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

They reach maturity at 12 to 14 years, and can live to be a hundred.

First written about in 1689, and thought to be the offspring of a dragon, this creature was captured by a local postman and put on display. Where the world promptly forgot about it until 1750 when a fisherman snagged five legged fish in his net. A single specimen was sent abroad, and forgotten about within fifty years despite the intial fights about what exactly it was and the naming of the creature. (It was named by a Viennese zoologist, J N Laurenti, after the Greek god Proteus, shepherd of the creatures of the sea.)

It bamboozles scientists with several of its habits: most particularly the fact that it reaches sexual maturity when still in its larval stage. It doesn't finish its metamorphosis, from the tadpole-like stage breathing with gills to leaving the water. Even though it has rudimentary lungs, it remains in the water, using its gills.

I'm more worried that something ten inches long with gills, four legs and no eyes is said to look like a human...

most of this information digested from Diver magazine

(idea) by stewacide (4.7 y) (print) ? (I like it!) Thu Oct 11 2001 at 21:59:29

Interesting (100% useless) Fact:

The 10 stotins coin issued by the Bank of Slovenia has a Human Fish (Proteus anguinus) on one side (there's a big "10" on the other). Here's some info on it from the Bank of Slovenia site (http://www.bsi.si/):

Diameter: 16 mm

Thickness: 1.3 mm

Edge: plain

Weight: 0.55 g

Alloy: 98% Al, 2% Mg

Put in circulation: April 29, 1993

For a picture of this particular coin (plus some links about Proteus) go to http://www.bsi.si/html/eng/banknotes_coins/coins/10stot.html

What index of "everything" would be complete without the alloy content of Slovenian coinage! :)

printable version
chaos

blood knot	Fisherman's knot	axolotl	nerpa
Croatia	Merman	Tesla Tower	Proteus
Lika	coelacanth	Em�lie Tavernier Gamelin	Rhinoceros Party
Neoteny	Attack of the Giant Leeches	Nuclear	Endemic
salamander	Slovenia	Wal-Mart	Monogamous
My childhood characters	Francis Bacon	mantis shrimp	Alloy

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