Very Strange Alien-Looking Fish Caught In Mexico Is Actually An Albino Swell Shark

In the deeps of the sea lurk strange and freaky-looking creatures. The latest one to surface and scare the crap out of everyone is a bloated, sunburnt-looking alien of a shark that was caught off the coast of Los Cabos, Mexico.

Photos of the creature appeared on Pisces Sportfishing Fleet’s Facebook page and from there spread across the internet as people collectively cried "WTF is that?"

Jaime Rendon, the local fisherman and boat captain who caught the shark said, "I was really surprised but what caused most impact were the eyes, so strange." He noted that it looked like an alien but figured it was a type of shark because of its raspy skin, three rows of teeth, and the three gill slits on the side of its head (even though sharks usually have between five and seven gills).

After the group asked people and experts to help them identify the creature it was soon acknowledged that it was a swell shark. Swell sharks swallow water when threatened and that causes their bellies to puff out, but there was still some questions to be answered. Namely, why was it a pinkish color and why did it only have three gills?

Explanations did come, eventually. “Alien fish mystery solved — After studying the photos, the experts agree that the strange fish is an albino swell shark — still alive and well!” Pisces Sportfishing Fleet posted.

So that explained the pink coloring, but what about the gills? Well according to a shark researcher who spoke with Motherboard, the number of gills may be because the rest are compressed together and we can't see them or it may only have three due to a "developmental anomaly."

So there you go, what seemed like a completely bizarre discovery had an entirely rational explanation in the end.