A Walking Fish Has Been Baffling Specialists As To Its Species

As he was out diving in the night off the coast of Bali, a man was surprised to note “a walking” fish which seemed to be moving around the seafloor on its own pair of legs. While most specialists agree that this strange creature was most likely a stingfish, they are still baffled as to its exact species.

The Walking Fish A Stingfish or Something Else?

The bizarre fish was spotted by Emeric Benhalassa, a French cook and passionate diver. He recounts that he noticed something odd moving on the seafloor during a night dive off the coast of Bali in Indonesia. After taking a closer look, Benhalassa placed it as most likely being a type of stingfish. This is the most venomous species of fish known on Earth.

“The stingfish came to meet me probably thanks to the light. It was “bizarre and pretty … I thought that this could please the Internet,” stated Benhalassa for National Geographic.

Specialists took notice of this weird and took a look of their own at the video captured by the diver. Based on the images, most of them agreed that this must be some sort of stingfish part of the Minous genus.

Still, stingfish quite evidently lack feet as we know them. Instead, the species present parts in their pectoral fins that must have separated throughout their evolution. These are used for probing the mud in search of worms and crustaceans.

As it is, although the walking fish has been given a genus, they are still quite baffled as to what could be its species.

This is quite difficult to determine without holding or at least observing the fish itself.

So some consider that this specimen could be a Minous trachycephalus or striped stingfish. Other disagree and point out it could be a painted stinger. Or even a M. quincarinatus or whitetail goblin fish.

At the same time, some pointed out the possibility that this walking fish might be an entirely new species altogether.

It remains to be determined if this is a new find or just a rather peculiar specimen. Still, as Benhalassa and scientists point out, the Earth’s waters still are full of mysterious so there are many things left to discover.

Image Source: Wikimedia