Friday mystery object #422

This week I have something fishy for you to have a go at identifying:

Any idea what this beautiful beastie might be?

There’s a painting — a temptation of St Anthony, I think — with a bunch of demons: monstrous beings with very alien-looking heads… unless know bats, in which case the “demon heads” turn out to be very lifelike (though oversize) renditions of bat faces, with nose leafs, etc. … Are you sure this Friday’s mystery object isn’t a gargoyle?
(On a serious note, I agree with Chris and Sallie.)

Allen Hazen says: November 27, 2021 at 1:57 am

The prickles seem to be unusual, but there are lots species of this general sort of critter, and I don’t know HOW unusual prices are. H************ g************ is one species that has prickles (but I’ll just kick the ball back into play for others to chase).

Allen Hazen says: November 27, 2021 at 1:59 am

(For “prices”, read “prickles”)

Jennifer says: November 27, 2021 at 10:51 am

I catch this a lot on my Animal Crossing game. Looks nothing like a football, LOL.

palfreyman1414 says: November 28, 2021 at 1:55 pm

One of those “angler” fish?

Allen Hazen says: November 28, 2021 at 7:47 pm

Supposing, for the sake of argument, that my Him********** was right as to the genus. Wikipedia says there are something like 22 species, and “Escal morphology varies between species.” Which would be useful if you have a library of images of different species. (Jennifer Macaire: I can see a faint resemblance to an American football. And the size range seems to include that. Though, since Wikipedia also tells us that the flesh is gelatinous, it might not stand up to a hard kick!)

Joe Vans says: November 30, 2021 at 9:00 pm

here’s a friend or close cousin…
https://www.yahoo.com/news/deep-sea-creature-washes-ashore-194051445.html

salliereynolds says: December 1, 2021 at 5:35 pm

That certainly looks like our baby. Tongue and prickles and all. I never heard them called “football” fish, but Jennifer clearly had!

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