Alien like Creature found in NJ waters?

[bababooey]

What the heck?:huh:


WHAT IS THIS ‘ALIEN-LIKE’ CREATURE FOUND IN NEW JERSEY?

Feb. 15, 2013 9:30pm Jason Howerton (http://www.theblaze.com/blog/author/jhowerton)

This photo of a creepy-looking “alien-like” creature found in New Jersey has gone viral on Reddit (http://imgur.com/r/***/5dyWk4B), registering more than 400,000 views in just six hours after being posted Friday. And before you write the photo off as a fake, keep reading to hear the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) confirm the creature in the photo appears to be real.

http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/412885.jpg (http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/02/15/what-is-this-alien-like-creature-found-in-new-jersey-and-yes-its-real/attachment/412885/)
(Reddit)


According to the New York DEC, the creature, which unfortunately met its end after a sharp spear pierced its body, appears to be a very large sea lamprey.
“The photo doesn’t allow counting of gill openings (seven per side for sea lamprey), but based on size alone, this does appear to be a sea lamprey,” a spokeswoman for the agency told GrindTV.com (http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/51051/alien-like+creature+pulled+from+new+jersey+area+an+inter net+sensation/).

However, it should still be noted that there is always the possibility the picture has been photoshopped to make the sea lamprey look larger, or it could just be the camera angle.
Sea lampreys are eel-like, jawless, boneless parasites equipped with mouths full of sharp teeth and a file-like tongue, according to the NY Department of Environmental Conservation. As if they weren’t creepy enough, juvenile lampreys apparently latch onto other fish and drain them of bodily fluids. “Most often, the prey, or host fish, dies as a result of either blood loss or infection,” GrindTV.com notes, which accurately labeled the creature “alien-like.”
“It sucks the life out of fish,” one Redditor commented.

Before moving out to sea to live off a host fish, sea lampreys spend their “egg and larval stages” in fresh water. They become parasitic once their bodies form and they are ready to go out to sea.



http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/02/15/what-is-this-alien-like-creature-found-in-new-jersey-and-yes-its-real/

[dogfish]

See that look at all the power plants and garbadge you joisey folk been putting in the water for the last decade. You created a monster.:moon: :HappyWave:

[finchaser]

West Wind Wally's dad seeking revenge for his sons murder

[DarkSkies]

^ :2flip: :moon:.....hey ya grouch...how bout we do some scouting in the back for bluefish....I hear it's pretty popular lately......:laugh:
Waddya say? :rolleyes:........:kiss: :HappyWave:

Or you can sit at an inlet or jetty on your special grouchy chair....I'll put on a wetsuit, fins and mask, and look for the stripers that are still "sitting" there.....:ROFLMAO :kooky:.....no tea and crumpets after, though.....maybe a slice o pizza.....someone told me surfstix is coming down and he really likes pizza with anchovies and salted clams......:scared: :kooky:

Bababooey, as for the pic above it would seem to be Photoshopped.

[surfstix1963]

I like swan meat on my pizza...

[ledhead36]

They did a follow up story -


http://ads.nj.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_lx.ads/www.nj.com/news/2013/02/fisherman_jersey_sea_monster_i.html/L10/465036837/StoryAd/NJONLINE/Spacer_NJ_RoS_07/Spacer_SpanMJX.html/594f704844452b786a73674141415664?_RM_EMPTY_&bt=2034&bt=6104&bt=5013&bt=6119&bt=5039&bt=4075&bt=5011&bt=3097&bt=5006&bt=4035&bt=bt6173&bt=6192&bt=6152&bt=8063&bt=9002&bt=6165&bt=5030&bt=2062&bt=6142&bt=1001&bt=3081&bt=all&bt=5043&bt=6099&bt=6182&bt=6166&bt=6162&bt=0020&bt=6158&bt=5098&bt=2006&bt=2096&bt=4028&bt=6011&bt=3080&bt=8064&bt=6230&bt=5014&bt=6112&bt=2020&bt=6219&bt=6077&bt=0003&bt=8099&bt=3066&bt=2091&bt=6144&bt=6096&bt=2077&bt=4050&bt=5040&bt=4049&bt=6156&bt=6163&bt=0005&bt=2048&bt=0020&bt=6133&bt=3055&tag0=manville&tag1=raritan


The “sea monster” of New Jersey – the one that has gotten more than a million looks on the web and some disbelief from people (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/02/post_302.html)behind their computer screens – is no big deal for Doug Cutler. After all, the 23-year-old is the fisherman who speared the sea lamprey in the Raritan River nearly two years ago.

“There was no Photoshop whatsoever,” he said Tuesday afternoon. “It was two years ago. A friend recently posted those pictures because we were having a contest about who had the weirdest catch. It’s nothing new to the Raritan.”

The eel-like sucker with a large round mouth ringed by rows of teeth resembles something out of an early science-fiction movie in the picture. The animal is spreared through its thick-looking body, which is lined with holes that resemble gills.
The animal was about 3 feet long and weighed about 4.5 pounds, Cutler recalls.
The pictures were completely genuine, Cutler says, and he didn’t think anything of it, because he had seen them in New Jersey waters for his whole life.
But when his friend posted the picture on Reddit last week, it drew about 1.4 million views on Reddit (http://imgur.com/5dyWk4B) – and some vocal disbelief.
http://media.nj.com/star-ledger/photo/2013/02/12342819-large.jpg Enlarge (http://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/02/sea-lamprey6zip_4.html) Star-Ledger Wire Services (http://connect.nj.com/user/njoslwire/photos.html)Doug Cutler, a 23-year-old from Manville, caught a sea lamprey in the Raritan River in the spring of 2011 and took pictures. Nearly two years later, the pictures have caused a buzz online and some disbelief from people behind their computers. Photos courtesy Doug Cutler. Sea lamprey caught in Raritan River (http://photos.nj.com/4504/gallery/sea_lamprey_caught_in_raritan_river/index.html) gallery (6 photos)

http://media.nj.com/star-ledger/photo/2013/02/12342820-thumb_square.jpg (http://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/02/sea-lamprey6zip_5.html)
http://media.nj.com/star-ledger/photo/2013/02/12342817-thumb_square.jpg (http://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/02/sea-lamprey6zip_2.html)
http://media.nj.com/star-ledger/photo/2013/02/12342818-thumb_square.jpg (http://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/02/sea-lamprey6zip_3.html)
http://media.nj.com/star-ledger/photo/2013/02/12342816-thumb_square.jpg (http://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/02/sea-lamprey6zip_1.html)
http://media.nj.com/star-ledger/photo/2013/02/12342815-thumb_square.jpg (http://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/02/sea-lamprey6zip.html)








Cutler, a Manville man, had posted the pictures of his catch on his Facebook page at the time he caught the sea lamprey in the spring of 2011, his page shows.
He wasn’t out to shoot a sea lamprey that day almost two years ago, he says – instead he was out looking for carp and other fish. But when he saw the sea lamprey down in the murky water, he decided to take a shot with his bow and reel because he had never caught one before. There wasn’t much of a fight to it, he recalls.
Since the animal has no bones, he didn’t really do anything with it – and unlike some other fishermen, he didn’t want to eat it. So he took the pictures, and threw it away, he says.
Cutler, who works at the Charles O. Hayford State Fish Hatchery in Hackettstown, is an avid outdoorsman. He estimates that he gets out to fish about 180 days each year, and he also hunts. He sounds a bit exasperated about the doubters who have posted online that he must have faked the picture.
But that just shows how people really don’t know what’s out in the natural world anymore, he said.
“It shows just how disconnected people are from nature,” he said.
According to the United State Geological Survey, the sea lamprey is a parasitic feeder that attaches itself to fish to suck out fluids and tissues for its food. The animals are found all along the Atlantic Coast from Canada south to Florida. Although it’s a saltwater creature, it generally swims up freshwater rivers to reproduce, the USGS says.
The sea lamprey is somewhat common in the Delaware River and other bodies of water on the western side of the state, said Bob Considine, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection. They are known to be an invasive species - particularly outside the Garden State, like in the Great Lakes region, he added. In New Jersey, they're considered native to the area, Considine added.
However, the DEP still doesn't have any tangible evidence of the lamprey's impact on New Jersey's fish populations, like catfish, northern pike, and carp, Considine said.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/02/fisherman_jersey_sea_monster_i.html

[bababooey]

Looks like it could have been above the new brunswick area. It's wild how different things look when you put them at exaggerated camera angles. Have seen that many times when a guy catches a fish and extends arms all the way out. A 5 lb tog turns into a 14lb monster. You know its been done by looking at the stubby dwarf fingers that the camera can't make sense of.