This fish caught off the coast of Bermagui in New South Wales is the stuff of nightmares. But apparently it's delicious!
Commercial fisherman Jason Moyce uploaded the grotesque image to his Facebook page, Trapman Bermagui, in an attempt to identify it.
"I'm pretty sure this is a blob fish ??? caught in deep water, east off Bermagui,” he wrote. “Probably the ugliest fish I've ever seen. Apparently good eating."
Quite a few commenters suggested it was a monkfish, stargazer or anglerfish and not in fact a blob fish.
Of course, others had their own, humorous take on the creature.
“Hard to tell, but I think it's a Marlboro smoking cigarette fish,” wrote Mark Kaplan. “They look this way from contracting cancer do to smoking from an early age. Obviously, this one didn't read the warning on the label.”
“Looks like the toxic avenger,” said Rob Errichiello.
“He just needs a fedora, ugly sweater and glove with razor blade fingers,” suggested Michael Bush, agreeing with commenter Dawn Keballs that it looked like Freddy Kruger from the Nightmare of Elm Street movies.
"I had an awkward stage in high school and sort of resembled this," wrote Louisa Baker.
But we think Thane Thorpe had the best comment: "When they say there’s more fish in the sea but all the fish be looking like this."
But would you eat it?
If it’s a monkfish, then apparently tastes good, with commenter Flo Renau even offering up some culinary suggestions: "Excellent eating, steamed under seaweed or between pieces of lettuce, tastes very very much like lobster."
Of course, it does beg the question that David Green asked: “Who the hell was brave enough to taste it in the first place."
Obviously someone who was very hungry or very curious!
Main image: Facebook.com/trapmanbermagui; inset: Clare Louise Jackson/Shutterstock