11 Most Terrifying Mutant Fish Ever Caught!

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]Number 11, water dragons. A fisherman got a surprise when he landed a catch from the river Irtysh, which flows through Russia, China, and Kazakhstan.

[00:00:09][music] Fisherman Alex claims that he had caught underwater dragons. Well, actually, they were pike. [music] Pike are long carnivorous fish with many sharp teeth. They are already pretty intimidating, but until now, none of them had horns.

[00:00:24]>> [music] >> One fish weighed 12 kg and was sporting two horns, and the smaller one weighed 7 kg and had four.

[00:00:30]>> [music] >> Everyone warned him not to eat the mutant fish in case they were poisoned, but he didn't seem to mind because he ended up eating them. However, he did keep and dry the heads, which can now be seen on display in his garage. So, what caused the pike to look [music] the way they did? Well, it's easy to think that the local folk tales of underwater dragons have come true. Others offer a more rational but disturbing [music] explanation. There's been concern in the area about pollution from falling rocket parts from launches at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, >> [music] >> poisoning the water with fuel. Did this cause the fish to mutate? Journalists have been blaming the debris containing rocket fuel for illnesses in children in the area. There is also the Tarsky Mining and Processing [music] Combine near the area where the fish were taken from the river. Perhaps these factors are creating the dragon pike [music] fish. Number 10, wolf fish. The Atlantic wolf fish is also known as the sea wolf and the devil [music] fish. Images of a mutant wolf fish caught off the coast of Japan in 2015 went viral, and people started to panic. [music] Wolf fish are an important part of the ecosystem since they control green crab and sea [music] urchin populations, and not very many things can eat sea urchins. These tough fish can grow up to 4 ft. However, the average is about 1.6 [music] to 3.2 ft long. That's still pretty big. Everyone was beginning to think that this monster fish was caused by the Fukushima disaster. Like something out of a comic book, perhaps the nuclear accident created mutant fish with special powers. [music] However, very few mutations lead to an extra large size. So, is this real or not? Fisherman Hiroshi Hirasaka did catch this fish, [music] but somehow he was able to hold it up to the camera in such a way as to make it look enormous, >> [music] >> but it was still an impressive catch.

[00:02:15]And this fish was probably very old and healthy.

[00:02:18]>> [music] >> It's ugly face and Hirasaka's expression are completely real. Number nine, >> [music] >> Indian Goonch. In 1998, 17-year-old Dil Bahadur was swimming with his girlfriend and some friends in the Kali River in India when he was suddenly dragged underwater [music] by some unknown force. He never resurfaced. A few months later, a young boy was pulled underwater and disappeared. [music] In 2007, an 18-year-old was also dragged down, but this time witnesses saw what they described [music] as a water pig.

[00:02:48]But what was this mysterious creature that was causing strong young men to disappear [music] underwater? Biologist Jeremy Wade from River Monsters went to go find the truth [music] behind the attacks. People said it was the Indian Goonch, but what is it? Related to the catfish, the Goonch is a freshwater predator that grows to quite an alarming size. [music] They can grow as long as 1.8 m or 6 ft and weigh up to 160 lb.

[00:03:12]It's more than capable of hurting a human, and if the rumors are to be believed, it's already [music] developed a taste for our species. Jeremy Wade was told by locals that the monster fish had developed a taste for human flesh. It was getting bigger as it ate human remains discarded from funeral pyres along the riverbanks. Wade discounted other kinds of animals such as sharks and crocodiles and set up a funeral pyre to lure one [music] in. Soon after, they caught a record-breaking 6-ft Goonch, but it was not likely the man-eater responsible for [music] the disappearances. But there were probably larger ones out there waiting in the murky water. Number eight, carp [music] with two mouths. You can find all kinds of weird and wonderful stuff on Reddit, and this fish from 2017 is definitely more weird and kind of disturbing.

[00:03:58][music] Reddit user Stuffy Unicorn posted a video of his spooky fish with what appears to have two heads [music] and two enormous gaping mouths. Everyone wanted to know what had caused this bizarre phenomenon. Maybe it had been affected by pollution, which had caused a weird mutation, [music] or perhaps it was some type of conjoined twin. The general view is it's an Asian carp with a crazy deformity. [music] But people are more mesmerized by its mouths opening and closing. It also looks like it has four eyes. But as for the extra eyes, well, don't look too close as you might get sneezed on.

[00:04:29]They're nostrils.

[00:04:30]Commenters think the mouth at the bottom isn't actually a mouth. It could have resulted from an injury that then opened up or due to its gills not being attached correctly to the lower jaw.

[00:04:40]We'll never know the real story behind why this carp looks the way it does. The fish [music] could still be swimming around now quite happily. The only trouble is that extra hole in its face is letting out food. So, it might be on a diet whether it likes it or not.

[00:04:54]Number seven, fish with human teeth.

[00:04:57]There are actually several types of fish with very human-looking teeth. [music] We have the pacu fish and the sheepshead fish. The pacu fish is closely related to the piranha and is native to South America. Although they have been known to escape captivity and thrive in waterways throughout the world. They can grow up to 3 and 1/2 ft long and weigh up to 88 lb.

[00:05:17]>> [music] >> Their teeth, unlike piranhas that are sharp, are flat and look just like a human's. This is the closest any other species has to teeth like our own, and it seems they put them to good use. The pacu fish's nickname [music] is the nutcracker. And while they are very fond of eating nuts, legend says it's the other kind of nuts that they like. So, guys, watch out. They supposedly have been known to mistake testicles for low-hanging nuts and have no problem taking a bite. [music] This isn't funny because this can cause severe blood loss and can even be fatal. There are many local stories about these fish [music] in the Amazon, but the myth is yet to be fully verified. The sheep's head fish also [music] has very human-like teeth that look like they kind of need braces.

[00:05:59]They are a common species in North and South America and they have multiple rows of molars behind their front teeth, which helps them grind up food as they chew. Much like with human children, the molars grow in as they get older. Unlike humans on the other hand, the musculature of the jaw improves throughout their entire lives. And fish who live near an abundance of shelled [music] prey will therefore have greater jaw crushing power. Fishermen have observed specimens with jaws capable of breaking metal fish hooks in half.

[00:06:26]Number six, two-headed dolphin. In 2014, a very rare find washed up on the Aegean coast city of Izmir, Turkey. [music] A gym teacher on vacation made the discovery of a very unusual two-headed dolphin. While we all know they aren't fish, >> [music] >> it is only the fifth known case of conjoined twin dolphins and only the third known to have lived beyond the fetal [music] stage, according to a 2008 study in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases. Marine biologists from Akdeniz University will examine the carcass to find out more. It's hard to know how old they were or even what exact species of dolphin this was.

[00:07:00]>> [music] >> In the case of conjoined wild mammals like this, the chances of survival are very low and these poor creatures were lucky to make it out of the womb. It's very rare for wild mammals to be born this way and many don't even survive birth. While conjoined twins in humans are relatively common, it is extremely rare in [music] wild mammals. Biologists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimate [music] that the rate of conjoined twins in marine mammals is less than 1%. These mutations can take several forms [music] and these twins would have had enormous difficulty swimming and coming to the surface to breathe. [music] These dolphins had polycephaly, which is caused by the incomplete splitting of a fertilized egg. Polycephaly has been found in people, snakes, sheep, [music] dogs, and fish. Number five, bird fish.

[00:07:45]This little fishy went viral after it landed on the deck of a fishing boat in China's Guizhou province. At first glance, it seems like a half-fish, half-bird mutant creature. [music] It does have the appearance of a mermaid pigeon type thing, right? China's Guizhou Urban Newspaper broke the news in 2018 and shared a video of the strange fish [music] gasping for air.

[00:08:05]People said that its mouth looked like a beak and its little fins looked like wings and that perhaps it was some sort of new species. [music] However, the real explanation is a bit different.

[00:08:15]Experts have identified it as a common [music] freshwater carp that happens to have a deformed head. It's strange head was probably caused by a developmental problem early in life. This is not that unusual with things such as the pinhead deformity affecting marine life and making them look kind of alien.

[00:08:31]>> [music] >> It's hard to say what caused the fish to be that way. It could be a genetic mutation or somewhat worryingly pollution.

[00:08:38]>> [music] >> Environmental pollution such as chemical contaminants that come into contact with fish larva can intercept an embryo's normal growth and trigger other effects.

[00:08:46]>> [music] >> The main thing is after gaping at the struggling bird fish for a while and filming it for the whole world to see, these astonished [music] fishermen did the decent thing and popped it back in the water. Bye, little bird fish. Number four, cyclops shark. Fishermen in Mexico made a truly bizarre catch in 2011.

[00:09:03]Flying their trade off the coast of Baja California shore, they discovered a real cyclops shark. They had brought up a female dusky shark and when they cut open the catch, they found this 22-in long fetus with a single large eye at the front [music] of its head. Pictures of it were the talk of the internet and many believed this picture [music] was fake, but this shark is real and suffers from a congenital condition called cyclopia. [music] Biologists from the Interdisciplinary Center of Marine Sciences in La Paz, Mexico asked permission from Enrique Lucero Leon, the fisherman, to x-ray and study the fetus.

[00:09:36]When they're born, babies are supposed to have two brain [music] hemispheres and two optical lobes to see with as a result. The forebrain separates while still an embryo, but in this case, that didn't happen. [music] Very few cyclops sharks have been documented and they were also embryos, >> [music] >> demonstrating that science has still have a lot to learn and that these sharks don't survive long in the wild.

[00:09:56]Number three, giant fluorescent blue fish. In 2018, a bizarre brightly colored mutant fish was discovered in a lake in North Carolina. At least, that's if you believe what you see and read on YouTube. Measuring approximately 1.2 m or 4 ft in length, it made [music] a striking impression when footage of it was posted online. However, no one knows whether it's a fish or not. Located [music] in Gaston County, someone filmed the strange creature asking if someone could identify the anomaly. The fact that it appears to be swimming along has convinced some people that it's real.

[00:10:29]For others, they just aren't having it, believing it to be anything from a dead bird to remote control robot.

[00:10:36]>> [music] >> Its unique blue color made some guess it was a dead peacock getting pulled around, but if sharks with one eye exist, why couldn't a fluorescent blue fish in a lake exist? [music] Some have said it might be an aquarium fish that was injected to make it look blue, while others said it might be a carp. What do you think it is? Let me know in the comments below. Number two, pug-nosed striped bass. [music] Another creepy catch was this mutant fish caught in the Chesapeake Bay.

[00:11:03]Anglers were live-lining when they reeled in the pug-nosed striped bass.

[00:11:07]This fish is probably not mutant because of swimming too close to a chemical plant or getting rocket fuel dumped on it. This kind of mutation is considered to be a naturally occurring mutation [music] because it has been seen kind of often. First reported in the '60s, they usually have trouble passing water over the gills and holding on to prey, but this particular fish showed no signs of being disadvantaged. Not only was it healthy-looking, but it put up quite a fight before landing on deck. The sea is a mysterious place, and so we'll never find out why that fish is suited as especially large, not least because the fisherman ate the bass, pug nose and all. For me, it's not the type of thing I'd want to eat after that. Number one, giant Chernobyl catfish. Now, if you're going to find a mutant fish anywhere in the world, Chernobyl is the place, right? Well, it might not be as simple as you think. [music] It was the site of a terrible tragedy, the effects of which are felt to this day. But, look inside the plant's [music] cooling pond, and you'll see what appears to be enormous catfish. Appearances [music] can be deceptive, though. It isn't unusual for these catfish to get large. In fact, [music] the largest on record was a Mekong catfish that was nearly 9 ft long and weighed 646 [music] lb. Italian fisherman Dino Ferrari caught a 280 lb catfish measuring 8.8 [music] ft. Wels catfish is one of the world's largest freshwater fish, too.

[00:12:28]>> [music] >> It's not feasible, according that radiation would allow them to grow, anyway. If anything, they would be pretty weak and [music] puny, not strong and tough like these guys. The really surprising thing is that [music] the Chernobyl pond is a good environment for the catfish. That's because they virtually have the place to themselves, and they eat pretty much everything, which makes things easier. If these are mutants, then they sure are happy ones.