Name These New Mystery Species
Posted by: Loren Coleman on April 16th, 2011
Can you give the common and scientific names of the species pictured below?
Found beached in Oahu, Hawaii.
Found in a ravine in Maine.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Hello,
The second pic is an dead Hypostomus plecostomus. It lives normaly in South America. But today them are a an invasive species (mostly released from aquarium ) and live in North America too.
Most of the Hypostomus sold in the pet trade are “breed” in Florida or wild caught in the Everglades.
The first pic is a Pezosaurus right?
I think I have seen that second fish before I just can’t remember the name.
Is that the whole tail?
Holy Cow! At that serpent like creature!
Neither fish are mysterious.
The first is indeed a Hypostomus, species is indeterminate though because you need to be able to do a fin ray count to be 100% sure. Nothing unusual about finding it in Maine either as someone probably dumped their aquarium residents when they got tired of them. The fish died when the water temps dropped below 50F. Looks like a scavenger got hold of the body.
The second fish is a Gymnothorax Moray Eel. Most probably Gymnothorax rueppellii…a common Moray in Hawaii.
Yes, cryptoheros67, I agree, their individual identities are a “mystery” to those taking the photographs, thus the use of that label, not “mysterious.”
Oh man!
Being a very-non-icthyologist, I would *hate* to have a cool find in a Maine ravine chilled down like that by this blog. 🙁