Girl reels in two-footed, horned fish

NW Cable News ^ | 08/13/03 | Staff Writer

[bedolido]

SEATTLE - A Federal Way, Wash., girl on a fishing trip with her family reeled in something right out of a science fiction film. Believe it or not, she caught a two-footed fish with a big horn.

8-year-old Otilia Grasan was fishing with her family this week when she caught the strangest fish she had ever seen.

“I was thinking that it might be a good pet and put it in the fish tank,” said Otilia. "When it came up in the water the eyes were really glowing and the whole tail was glowing too. So I thought it was gonna glow in the dark." Fresh from the family freezer, Otilia showed off her catch – an odd looking fish about 18 inches long.

You'd think a two-footed fish with a big, weird horn would be a rare discovery, but the truth is there are actually thousands of them in Puget Sound.

Turns out the mysterious creature is a distant member of the shark family with a decidedly unglamorous name.

“Yeah, this is the spotted ratfish,” said Wayne Palsson, Dept. of Fish and Wildlife

The so-called "feet" are actually modified fins used to latch onto females, helping big ratfish make little ratfish. The same goes for that handsome horn.

And while many crave crab legs and buffalo wings, if someone offers you some fresh caught “fish feet,” keep walking. Health officials say ratfish is poisonous and should not be eaten.

[rapture-me]

Looks like a DemocRat fish to me. Maybe a little too harmless though.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Well it is poisonous so that sounds democRat to me. Ugly, stupid, poisonous, useless.

[r9etb]

Separated at birth?

[okkev68]

When I was ten we were at Keystone lake outside of Tulsa, OK. Several black women and kids were running along the bank yelling "shark, shark". So my dad went over to check it out and grabbed it by the tail.

Thirty minutes later after getting some help from another fisherman with a large hook, he pulled at a 55lb spoonbill catfish. It had been knocked silly by going through the dam and was just flopping by the bank. I have a picture of me standing next to it and it was taller than I was.

I am 6'1" tall so I wasn't a little fella back then.

[Richard Kimball]

That's scary.

[Western Patriot]

When fishing for salmon it is important to avoid getting human scent on the bait or reel because salmon are very sensitive to odors. The oil which is derived from ratfish livers is an ideal reel oil. Since it imparts a fishy odor to the line which doesn't alert salmon. You can prepare the oil by placing the liver in a clean tin can and placing it over a medium heat. Soon the oil will ooze out and you can store it in a small jar. Other than that, these are some of the ugliest creatures on the planet.

[VOYAGER]

I am glad someone finally found the real Nemo!

[Phantom Lord]

I was 12 years old too!

[Semi Civil Servant]

Reminds me of the the time I caught a Jackalope.

[bedolido]

Reminds me of the the time I caught a Jackalope.

They're out there... just hard to find.

[Sloth]

Other bizarre news:

Eight-Pound Man Removed From Woman's Vagina

[rface]

boy .... talk about a thread killer!

[Amore]

I think Guars are weird looking too; my nephew's caught a few of them. But he recently hooked a (small) gator, and you've never seen anyone move so fast to cut a line!

[wysiwyg]

ROFL!

[dljordan]

I used to bow hunt for carp on the Tennessee River. One day I was wading in about three feet of water and saw some movment under a bush and took a shot. I started pulling the fish in and it was a three foot long garfish with a mouth full of teeth and was he PISSED! The thing took off after me and I threw my bow away and was almost walking on water getting out of there. There used to be an ELEVEN FOOT garfish in the Tennessee State Museum that they caught in the Cumberland River in Nashville. Apparently the thing lived at the outflow of a meat processing plant and just kept getting bigger. The teeth were two inches long. Nasty!

[nothingnew]

I've caught a few fish that freaked me out too. I thought at the time I'd caught something never seen before.

BTW, I had a 67 Skylark...best car I ever had...I drive a beat-up 4w truck now.

FMCDH

[dljordan]

Probably had a body in them at one time.

[billhilly]

Ugh! A democrat mermaid.

[Phantom Lord]

I would suspect so. No one ever believes me when I tell them the story. But its true. Luckily my father was with me to confirm it.