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Cleary's fish was a cryptid giant lobe-finned fish reported once, off southeastern Japan in the Pacific Ocean, during a surveying expedition in a diving bell by British diver Mike Cleary in around 1992.[1]
Cleary described his encounter to Malcolm Smith in January 2002, around ten years after the sighting had occurred while he had been surveying the seafloor with a companion in a diving bell. At a depth of 1,700 ft (518 m), a large "unknown creature" appeared and began to circle the diving bell. According to Cleary, the animal was 25 ft (7 m) long and somewhat fish-like, with horizontal undulations, a single elongated dorsal fin, and no neck. Its head was like a seahorse's, with cow-like eyes and barracuda-like teeth. However, unusually for a fish, Cleary insisted that the animal had two pairs of distinct webbed limbs.[1][2]
According to Smith, the alleged limbs of the animal are problematic, as the only fishes which could be described in such a manner are the lobe-finned fishes (class Sarcopterygii), the only surviving examples of which are the coelacanths and the freshwater lungfishes.[1]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Smith, Malcolm (2020) Forgotten Sea Serpents, ISBN 979-8627524566
- ↑ Smith, Malcolm (30 June 2012) "An Extraordinary Underwater Sea Serpent," Malcolm's Musings (malcolmscryptids.blogspot.com) – Wayback Machine