Beautiful To Ugly The Metamorphous Fish

[VanWa]

Hey everyone,

This post is totally true, I'm not joking around.

I saw this fish many years ago in an fish store in south Florida. It's been so long ago I don't remember if it was fresh water or salt water., brackish water. I'm pretty sure it was a fresh water fish.

I was looking around at the different fish in the tanks. I came across this one fish that had a nice look to it. As I was watching it through the glass all of a sudden it started to slowly change, morph, sort of the way a chameleon can morph and look totally different.

Anyway I watched this fish in amazement as it morphed into this really, and I mean REALLY evil looking, ugly ... I don't know it's hard to describe, fish amphibian type of thing. It didn't swim but stayed at the bottom of the tank as it morphed. No doubt it noticed me through the glass and this was it's protective measure. Oh, but it was ugly and creepy looking after it morphed. It looked nothing like its former nice looking self. The change would be enough to scare away any other fish (or person) for that matter. The size was about 3-4" long. I have no idea if that was its full adult size or not, that's just the size this particular one was.

I was shocked and I asked the clerk what it was and if I remember correctly he said it was a Devil Dog. For some reason that name sticks in my head. I did a net search for that name and can't come up with anything. Maybe I got the name wrong or maybe the clerk had it imported from somewhere and the clerk just named it that. I don't know. Now this was a long time ago when I saw this fish.

I've always remembered it because it was so freaky weird and unusual. I want to find out what it is called and learn more about it.

Can anyone help me?

 

[Aequora]

I know the Crucian Carp changes body shape, but as far as a metamorphosis goes all I can think of is the bignose, whalefish and tapetail-which are all the same species of fish, but the young, males and females all look different. The only problem I'd see is that they usually habit deep ocean water and the change is gradual with maturity. I doubt they'd be in a fish store. Here's an article about them: http/www.newscientist.com/article/mg2012...scientists.html

 

[bae1994]

try

Zubi Devilfish

 

[nmonks]

"Devil dog" is a name used for Cryptobranchus alleganiensis, otherwise called the eastern hellbender. This is a big aquatic salamander from a limited strip of land across the edges of Virginia and the Carolinas. It lives in cool, clear, fast-flowing water and feeds on various invertebrates.

Cheers, Neale

 

[VanWa]

Hey thanks for the replies!

The devilfish looks very close to what it looked like in the tank when it finally morphed. I do remember it had a creepy looking expression after it morphed.

http/www.starfish.ch/photos/fishes-Fisch...aledonicus1.jpg
http/www.starfish.ch/photos/fishes-Fisch...didactylus8.jpg
http/www.frogfish.ch/image/fishes-Fische...didactylus3.jpg
http/www.scuba-equipment-usa.com/marine/..._didactylus.jpg

I'm not sure if that is it exactly. Although it could be. It was so long ago when I saw the thing. The morphing aspect really sticks in my head though. I couldn't find anything that said these fish morph from something relatively pleasant looking into something ugly when scared or provoked. These fish look like they are always that way but I could be wrong about that.

maybe morphing might be the wrong word. It's the only word I can think of to describe the transformation. Maybe it was more of extruding body parts outwardly puffing up and changing colors. Does the devilfish do this?