Posted on 11/29/2018 9:25:16 AM PST by ETL
Hanna Mary was strolling along a beach with her mom and pup close behind when she spotted what she first believed was plastic sheeting. After a rough storm hit Canterbury, New Zealand, last week, Mary anticipated piles of "rubbish" would wash ashore.
But when she inspected the bizarre-looking object Saturday at a Rakaia Huts beach, shrieking after she realized it wasn't just another piece of trash — it was the skeleton of an "alien"-like critter.
"When I pulled it out and saw all the teeth and barbs I was convinced it was a rare deep sea creature," Mary told Fox News. "I was so excited because I love the ocean and it's inhabitants." ..."
With its wings, small fins on its back, two "legs" on either side and "barbs all over" that look like teeth, Mary had to partially agree with her followers that it was definitely unusual. That's why she decided to take it to a local taxidermist, though he wasn't able to confirm anything.
Malcolm Francis, a fisheries scientist and marine ecologist at National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), told the New Zealand Herald it's a New Zealand rough skate, also known as a Dipturus nasutus.
"They are called rough skate because they are very prickly ... it's quite common in Canterbury," Francis, who has been studying fish for more than 40 years, told the newspaper. "It's like flat shark, it has a skeleton made out of cartilage. They spend much of their time on the bottom."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Soon, only salt laden deserts will exist where the world's oceans are today.
Within a decade is my informed guesstimate.
If a Porcupine and an Underwater-Rosebush had a Baby....
It’s called a Rough Skate, says the article. It’s a male.
His ‘legs’ are not really legs, but are used to hang onto his female while mating.
Nature is so efficient!
The aliens are here for our water.
And our cow parts.
my first thought was skate, or stingray of some kind- those teeth are likely for crushing clams and such grinding the shells possibly=- or perhaps to catch and hold slippery prey in darker waters maybe-
Another good reason not to swim in oceans.
I think you’re right.
And our drunk rednecks camping in the woods..................
[[Another good reason not to swim in oceans.]]
Meh- just don’t wiggle your toes, you’ll be fine
Classic!
It says in the excerpt that it was identified as a Skate, a sting-ray like fish.
"Malcolm Francis, a fisheries scientist and marine ecologist at National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), told the New Zealand Herald it's a New Zealand rough skate, also known as a Dipturus nasutus.
"They are called rough skate because they are very prickly ... it's quite common in Canterbury," Francis, who has been studying fish for more than 40 years, told the newspaper. "It's like flat shark, it has a skeleton made out of cartilage. They spend much of their time on the bottom."
Yep dat da one. Just a little more dehydrated.
*ping*
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