Battered fish:
Yes it’s real. The remnants of an old “flame” of mine. It’s sad what drugs will do to a person.
The dreaded Yin Yang fish
Some days this type of thing interests me more than flute making. My friend R. at the CAS responds:
“I stared at that fish and decided it could not be Photoshop. I know what would have been done to do that, and it bore none of those hallmarks. I didn’t need an ichthyologist for this one (besides, they are rare 'round these parts, after the downsizing). I could see that this thing lacked a pelvic girdle, which is certainly odd for a real fish – not a chimera, either. One of my close colleagues here works on things like macrourines, and it doesn’t look like it has any bits of one of those incorporated into it. More like a strongly trimmed sea bass (grouper). And those molars look suspiciously like they once belonged to a smallish ungulate, like a sheep. So, to my horror, I concluded that someone had much too much time on their hands and had done some pretty expert taxidermy to produce this massively ugly thing. Seems a horrifying waste of talent and organic materials, until you realize that it is $637 worth of “waste”. It reminds me of those jackalopes you see around in bars, sometimes. And the “mermaids” he makes are truly hideous.”
Here is a link to the “mermaid” R. mentions:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300005222465&ssPageName=ADME:B:EF:US:2
I would call this one “Death on a Half Shell”
This reminds me of some unlucky catfish from the south which, when caught and dried, looks to some like JC on the Cross. Called the “Jesus Fish”. This unfortunate species is caught solely for this purpose as a Christian fetish. Where are the PETA people when they are really needed?
Casey
Found a “Crucifix Fish”:
It’s a gafftop sail catfish. Or was. Not that you could tell any more. It’s like it’s turned inside-out or something.
Must get a bit funky in good piping weather.
Yep. That’s it. Poor creature!
Casey
Poor Christians
Well, it’s sort of turned inside out. It’s the inside of the upper skull of the fish. But there is no tissue remaining, it is just bone. So in this photo you can see the top bone of the skull. I guess if you took it off and turned it over it would look like the top picture and the bottom picture.
click—>
Here’s one that is washed up on the beach. It looks more like what it really is.
click—>
Maybe you already knew this, but I was thinking it was a whole dried fish or something and I was completely at a loss.
Interesting! For those of you accessing the link, the example’s toward the bottom of the page. Text that goes with the photo:
“The hard head catfish is also known as the crucifix fish because of this design on the inside of the top of its skull. The skulls are often found washed up on the shoreline.”