You've seen it. It pops up every few months on Reddit or TikTok—a blurry, slightly haunting pic of skate fish that looks like a dehydrated alien or a tiny, screaming man from the Victorian era. People lose their minds in the comments. Is it a real cryptid? Is it a mutation?
Honestly, it’s usually just a dead fish that someone has mutilated for a few likes.
Skates are bizarre enough when they’re alive and swimming in the Atlantic. They’re basically flat sharks. They have cartilage instead of bone, and they glide through the water like sentient pancakes. But when they wash up on a beach or get hauled onto a pier, they transform into something truly unsettling. If you’ve ever looked at a pic of skate fish and felt a shiver, you’re not alone. It’s a mix of biological wonder and a very old, very weird tradition of coastal taxidermy hoaxes.
The "Jenny Haniver" and the fake alien industry
People have been faking photos—and physical specimens—of skates for centuries. Long before Photoshop, sailors in the 16th century would take a skate, carve it up, dry it out, and call it a "Jenny Haniver." They’d tell people they found a baby dragon or a sea devil.
The anatomy of a skate is a prankster’s dream. Their "nostrils" look exactly like eyes. Their actual eyes are on the top of their heads, but when you flip them over, the underside (the ventral side) looks like a weirdly human face. It has a mouth that seems to be frowning and those two nasal slits that look like weeping eyes. When a skate dries out, the skin shrinks around the cartilage. The wings curl up like little arms.
It’s creepy.
I’ve seen dozens of these photos shared as "unidentified creatures found on a beach in Australia." Most of the time, it’s just a Clearnose Skate (Raja eglanteria) or a Winter Skate that’s been out in the sun too long. This isn't just a fun piece of trivia; it actually messes with marine conservation efforts because people get more excited about a "monster" than a vital part of the seafloor ecosystem.
Why the pic of skate fish you saw looks like it has legs
One of the weirdest things about a pic of skate fish is the "legs." If you look at the back of the fish, near the tail, you’ll see these two fleshy appendages. No, it’s not evolving to walk on land. Those are called "pelvic fin crura."
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Skates use these to "punting" along the ocean floor. They literally kick off the sand to move. In a photo, especially one taken from a low angle, it looks like a tiny humanoid torso with legs. Researchers at organizations like the Marine Biological Laboratory have studied this because the genetic "blueprint" for this walking motion is actually very similar to how land animals walk.
It’s a weird biological bridge.
- Skates don't have stingers.
- Rays usually do.
- That’s the easiest way to tell the difference if you’re looking at a photo from the top.
- Also, skates have "thorns" along their back and tail.
You’ve probably noticed that in every viral pic of skate fish, the creature looks dry and leathery. That’s because once they lose moisture, their collagen-heavy skin turns into a natural plastic. This is why they were so easy for sailors to sell as "basilisks" in the 1700s. They don't rot as fast as a tuna or a salmon might; they just mummify into a nightmare.
The actual biology behind the "face"
If you’re looking at a pic of skate fish and it’s looking back at you, remember: you’re looking at its nose. The "eyes" are actually olfactory organs. They use these to sniff out crabs and mollusks buried in the sand.
Biologist Dr. David Shiffman, a well-known shark and ray expert, often has to debunk these photos on social media. He points out that the "mouth" is actually a highly evolved suction tool. Skates create a vacuum to pull prey out of the mud. When they are out of the water, the muscles around the mouth go into spasm, which makes it look like the fish is gasping or screaming.
It’s not screaming. It’s just physics.
We tend to anthropomorphize things we don't understand. We see a face because our brains are hardwired for pareidolia—the tendency to see familiar patterns in random shapes. A skate’s underside is basically a Rorschach test for people who watch too many sci-fi movies.
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Why you should care about the "Sea Monster" in your feed
The reality is that many skate species are in trouble. The Common Skate (Dipturus batis), which used to be everywhere in the British Isles, is now critically endangered. When we treat every pic of skate fish as a joke or a "monster" post, we miss the fact that these animals are being overfished.
They grow slowly. They take years to reach sexual maturity. They lay "Mermaid’s Purses"—those black, leathery egg cases you find on the beach. If a skate is caught as "bycatch" in a massive trawling net, it doesn't just bounce back.
Identifying a real skate photo vs. a hoax
- Check the "legs": If they are stiff and look like they’ve been glued, it’s a Jenny Haniver taxidermy piece.
- Look for the spiracles: These are the holes behind the real eyes on the top of the head. If the photo only shows the "face" on the bottom, the photographer is trying to trick you.
- The tail: Skate tails are thick and fleshy compared to the whip-like tails of many rays.
- The skin texture: Real skates have "dermal denticles"—basically tiny teeth on their skin. This makes them look rough, not smooth like a dolphin.
I remember a specific pic of skate fish that went viral in 2022. It claimed to be a "human-faced fish" caught in a lake. It wasn't in a lake—skates are saltwater animals. The "face" was just the underside of a Longnose Skate. But the post got 500,000 shares before anyone pointed out it was just a regular sea creature being held upside down.
What to do if you find a skate on the beach
If you find a skate washed up and you want to take your own pic of skate fish, be respectful. If it’s still wet and its gills (the slits on the bottom) are moving, it might still be alive.
Don't just stand there taking photos for Instagram. Use a shovel or a piece of driftwood to gently nudge it back into the water. Don't use your bare hands if you can avoid it—those thorns on their back are sharp and can cause a nasty infection.
If it’s clearly dead and dried out, leave it there. It’s part of the coastal nutrient cycle. Or, if you’re a nerd, look for the egg cases nearby. Scientists actually use "citizen science" photos of skate egg cases to track where different species are breeding. Your photo could actually help a marine biologist at a place like the Shark Trust map out endangered populations.
Most people just see a weird alien. You can choose to see a complex, ancient predator that has survived since the time of the dinosaurs.
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Actionable insights for the curious observer
Stop sharing those "What is this thing?" posts without checking the source. If the photo looks too human, it’s probably the ventral side of a skate. If you want to see what they actually look like in their element, look up high-definition footage of them "walking" on the seafloor. It’s way cooler than a blurry, dried-up specimen.
If you’re a photographer, try to capture the dorsal side (the top). That’s where the real beauty is—the intricate patterns that help them camouflage in the sand are incredible.
The next time a pic of skate fish hits your timeline, you can be the person in the comments explaining the difference between a nostril and an eye. It won't make you popular at parties, but it’ll make you right. And in a world of fake news and AI-generated monsters, being right about a weird fish is a small, satisfying victory.
Keep an eye out for those Mermaid’s Purses the next time you’re walking on the dunes after a storm. If you find one that’s empty, you can take it home. It’s a piece of natural history, a tiny leather cradle for a baby shark-cousin that’s now out there somewhere, punting through the dark.
Instead of scrolling past, take a second to look at the structural symmetry. There is something profoundly weird and beautiful about a creature that hasn't needed to change its basic design for millions of years. Even if its "face" looks like it’s judging your life choices.
Next Steps:
Check the local beachcombing guides for your area to identify which specific skates live off your coast. If you find an egg case, report the sighting to the Shark Trust’s Great Eggcase Hunt. This provides vital data for researchers tracking the health of our oceans. Knowing whether you're looking at a Thornback Ray or a Common Skate helps scientists protect these animals from disappearing entirely. Avoid purchasing "dried sea devil" souvenirs in tourist shops, as these are often sourced from unsustainable fishing practices. Instead, stick to capturing your own photos of these fascinating animals in their natural habitat.