Old-time sailors used to make these as "novelties" to give to their family. I guess that's the kind of weird thing you do when you don't have an iPhone to play with...
--TwoDragons
November 25, 2008
Anonymous said...
At first, I thought it was a male longnose skate- http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/race/media/photo_gallery/fish_files/Longnose_skate.htm
However, some details (say, dorsal fins at the end) don't match up. Whatever it is, I CAN say with a high degree of confidence that it is a skate and that it is a male.
November 25, 2008
Anonymous said...
I still stand by my theory of deep sea aliens.
November 25, 2008
Anonymous said...
$95!! 2 years ago I bought a box of them (8 or 10) here in L.A. at $4 each! They almost always smell awful
November 25, 2008
Anonymous said...
Wow! Those are really neat and yet another thing I have never heard of before until this site. Thanks for posting that link, Denita, very interesting read. I want one!!
November 25, 2008
Anonymous said...
it's a ray or skate with deep slashes in it and chunks of fin removed...sometimes theirs sold as aliens or devils.
November 25, 2008
Anonymous said...
neat! My sister took a picture of a fresh one of these she'd seen in Mexico and I was never able to figure out what it was.
Is this same thing sometimes called a "Sea Bishop", or is that perhaps another type of skate/ray? It seems like I've seen that in a very old woodcut image, perhaps fancifully pictured holding a trident...
I knew of these from my childhood because one of the "monster in my pocket" toys was based on them and they appeared in countless books about sea monsters, cryptozoology and hoaxes :p
November 27, 2008
Anonymous said...
Cthulhu!
November 30, 2008
Anonymous said...
Umm. has anyone heard of a giant squid (real tecnical naming i know but) it looks alot like a young or small one. it looks like the preserving or age has browned it, but the 'spear-like' head and the position of what appear as the eye holes a couple inches under it really give me the impression of this elusive sea crature...
Sorry Dhemigod, but as has already been said, this is a dead stingray. They are commonly dried out and cut into these monster-like shapes as souvenirs. You can see the tail fins and everything.
January 11, 2009
Anonymous said...
It is an dried out Angel Shark (lat. squatina). Nothing was cut or altered. They used to be sold as mummies of angels (does not really advertise heaven if you ask me). Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squatina
It is definitely an alien. That there is 100% legitimate extraterrestrial. You should sell it to NASA for three million dollars.
October 11, 2009
Anonymous said...
Chupacabra
September 09, 2010
Liz is working part time at an antique shop. Naturally, she comes across some oddities when new (well, not new at all) merchandise shows up for her to sort through. Imagine her surprise when she was met with this.
Not you everyday find! It's some sort of mummified something (I think I know what it is). Leave your guesses in the comments. Whatever it is, I'm sure it can be ground up and sold as an aphrodisiac somewhere in Asia. Top dollar, too.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]
posted by Raging Wombat at 11:52 AM on Nov 22, 2008
24 Comments
Close this window Jump to comment formIt's a Jenny Hanniver!
November 25, 2008
It's a stingray
November 25, 2008
I think its a skate
November 25, 2008
My guess is Guitarfish
November 25, 2008
Aw, Mitch beat me to it! :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_hanniver
Old-time sailors used to make these as "novelties" to give to their family. I guess that's the kind of weird thing you do when you don't have an iPhone to play with...
--TwoDragons
November 25, 2008
At first, I thought it was a male longnose skate-
http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/race/media/photo_gallery/fish_files/Longnose_skate.htm
However, some details (say, dorsal fins at the end) don't match up. Whatever it is, I CAN say with a high degree of confidence that it is a skate and that it is a male.
November 25, 2008
I still stand by my theory of deep sea aliens.
November 25, 2008
$95!! 2 years ago I bought a box of them (8 or 10) here in L.A.
at $4 each! They almost always smell awful
November 25, 2008
Wow! Those are really neat and yet another thing I have never heard of before until this site. Thanks for posting that link, Denita, very interesting read. I want one!!
November 25, 2008
it's a ray or skate with deep slashes in it and chunks of fin removed...sometimes theirs sold as aliens or devils.
November 25, 2008
neat! My sister took a picture of a fresh one of these she'd seen in Mexico and I was never able to figure out what it was.
November 26, 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigfin_squid
November 26, 2008
Cuttlefish cuttlefish cuttlefish!
November 26, 2008
Guitar fish :)
November 26, 2008
Is this same thing sometimes called a "Sea Bishop", or is that perhaps another type of skate/ray? It seems like I've seen that in a very old woodcut image, perhaps fancifully pictured holding a trident...
November 26, 2008
Everyone else has beat me to it, but I can tell you 100% that this is some kind of skate and not any type of cephalopod!
November 27, 2008
It's a stingray. I saw this thing before in Ripley's/
November 27, 2008
I knew of these from my childhood because one of the "monster in my pocket" toys was based on them and they appeared in countless books about sea monsters, cryptozoology and hoaxes :p
November 27, 2008
Cthulhu!
November 30, 2008
Umm. has anyone heard of a giant squid (real tecnical naming i know but) it looks alot like a young or small one. it looks like the preserving or age has browned it, but the 'spear-like' head and the position of what appear as the eye holes a couple inches under it really give me the impression of this elusive sea crature...
January 11, 2009
Sorry Dhemigod, but as has already been said, this is a dead stingray. They are commonly dried out and cut into these monster-like shapes as souvenirs. You can see the tail fins and everything.
January 11, 2009
It is an dried out Angel Shark (lat. squatina). Nothing was cut or altered. They used to be sold as mummies of angels (does not really advertise heaven if you ask me).
Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squatina
January 12, 2009
It is definitely an alien. That there is 100% legitimate extraterrestrial. You should sell it to NASA for three million dollars.
October 11, 2009
Chupacabra
September 09, 2010