ID on strange fish

[smokey11]

Anyone know what this weird looking fish is?

 

[Jantaris]

Anyone know what this weird looking fish is?

Is there such a thing as a fresh water angler? It reminds me of an angler fish.

 

[Jantaris]

Is there such a thing as a fresh water angler? It reminds me of an angler fish.

Do a google search of freshwater lion fish and fresh water angler. Looks similar to some of the pictures online.

 

[Tony Gill]

It's a toadfish (family Batrachoididae). Most of the species in this family are marine, but there are a few that can live in freshwater. They are often sold under the name "freshwater lionfish", which is a little confusing as marine lionfishes (belong to a very different group of fishes). I suspect there is a lot of confusion over the identification of freshwater toadfishes, which is a little unsettling as some of the species have venomous spines. I'll see if I can come up with an accurate identification of the one in your photographs. By the way, I suspect those neon tetras will be lunch for it, whatever its species!

Tony

 

[Tony Gill]

Your photo seems to best match a Brazilian species called Potamobatrachus trispinus, which is figured in the latest paper on the classification of toadfishes. However, if you do an image search on that species name, you end up with very different fishes, most of which appear to be other freshwater or brackish species. There is extra confusion also because there is another species with the same specific epithet (the second part of a species name): the Indo-Pacific species Batrachomoeus trispinosus. From what I can tell in the paper, Potamobatrachus does not have venomous glands in the dorsal fin or gill cover spines, but I would play it safe just the same. Sorry I couldn't offer a more confident identification (though I am pretty confident), but most of the details used to distinguish the species require microscopic examination of specimens. BTW, I forgot to mention freshwater stonefish as another name used in the aquarium trade ... again confusing because stonefish belong to a different, distantly related family.

Tony

 

[smokey11]

Thanks guys. I ve looked up eveyone s suggestions on google. It looks like its a stone fish aka lionfish. I have yet to see him eat my tetras. Hopefully he ll just feed on my shrimps

 

[Jantaris]

Thanks guys. I ve looked up eveyone s suggestions on google. It looks like its a stone fish aka lionfish. I have yet to see him eat my tetras. Hopefully he ll just feed on my shrimps

It's yours? Cool! Was it given to you? Interesting you wouldn't know what was in your tank but there must be a cool backstory to how you got it. Either way it looks like a neat little fish (little may not be the right word!). Enjoy!

 

[smokey11]

I live in hong kong. We call it stone fish over here in Chinese. But didnt know the English name so I can look up more info on google. So far looks like a fascinating fish. Hopefully can post some pics of it in action soon!