A deep sea fisherman has unveiled his latest creepy capture – a nightmarish creature being likened online to an alien.
Sporting a large, bulbous body, shrunken eyes and gaping mouth, you’d be forgiven for mistaking the fish for something from another planet.
But fisherman Roman Fedortsov plucked it from a northern part of the Pacific Ocean, sharing footage of the find with his 600,000 followers.
He identified the beast as an Aptocyclus ventricosus – also known as the smooth lumpfish or smooth lumpsucker.
The species of marine ray-finned fish is found in the deep sea and measures up to 44cm.
While their appearance is certainly unique, it appears to have undergone some swelling – likely due to the pressure change in being brought to the surface – resulting in the distended body.
Roman, who largely works on a trawler in Murmansk in the northwest part of Russia, shared a clip of the beast aboard the boat, which garnered more than 200,000 views and convinced viewers that extraterrestrials walk among us.
One user said: “Yeah, aliens are real.”
“That is 100% an alien,” agreed another viewer.
“Looks like an alien head,” one person commented.
Another user said: “What a horror.”
“That’s the pet of aliens living underwater,” guessed another viewer.
Someone else said: “Kill it and burn it and don’t ever catch one of those again!”
“Fished in Chernobyl?” guessed another user.
Another person wondered: “Alien or predator?”
“So that’s where the aliens come from,” said another user.
One person dubbed it ‘Megamind’ after the cartoon villain played by Will Ferrell, who sports a characteristically large head.
Another person likened it to ‘The Dark Lord’ from Harry Potter.
“That’s a different X-men right over there,” another person commented.
“My morning face,” someone else joked.
The deep sea fisherman has previously made headlines thanks to other weird and wonderful catches.
One was compared to a Dr Seuss character, found with organs hanging out of its mouth.
Meanwhile, he also caught a strange, dragon-like fish with yellow eyes.
He also previously shared pictures of a rare find: a prehistoric goblin shark.
