Fisherman Eric Osinskie snared a gross-looking parasitic creature that attaches itself to victims using its suction cup-like mouth before draining them and swimming away
A fisherman was horrified after landing a parasitic creature that looks like something “from Star Wars”.
Eric Osinskie snared the gross-looking beast in the Hudson Valley in New York State, US, on Sunday afternoon (June 4).
He shared snaps of the eel-like animal, showing its rows and rows of teeth, to the Catskill Outdoors Facebook group.
He captioned the images: “Went fishing for the fish that seem to always be right out of my grasp the catskill creek trout.
“Had 2 hooked lost one fumbling for my net and the other snapped my line but I did catch a new species today have a look.”
“Kill it immediately,” one comment read. Another person said: “I’m torn between demogorgan and fleshlight”
A third comment read: “Disgusting, revolting, the stuff nightmares are made of.” A fourth said: “It’s the alien from the alien movie the one that busts out the stomach.”
Osinskie told Newsweek: “It was by far the weirdest thing I have ever caught. It was probably 2ft-long or so, and its mouth looked like the Sarlacc pit from Star Wars.
“I actually caught it by mistake. I thought it was a stick at first.”
The creature is actually a parasitic sea lamprey, sometimes known as the “vampire fish”.
Sea lamprey migrate up rivers to spawn and use their suction cup-like mouths to attach themselves to fish before draining them. A fluid produced in their mouths prevents the victim’s blood from clotting.
Victims typically die from excessive blood loss or infection.
It is not clear whether the species is native to Lake Champlain, where Osinskie hooked one. Authorities have introduced a program to restrict their populations, but not eliminate them entirely.
Osinskie revealed in the Facebook comments that he didn’t kill it. He said: “They come here to spawn every year all you people saying to kill it should try to understand the way things in nature work.”
