It was a tremendous surprise for a group of fishermen who were in the waters in the north of Ukraine when they checked their nets and found, literally, a “mutant” fish, due to the number of malformations that the animal had.
Someone photographed the fish and uploaded the image to the internet, which quickly went viral, as it can be seen that it has 4 eyes, 2 mouths and 2 heads.
It also transpired that the strange fish was found in the Chernobyl area, just where the biggest nuclear accident in history, which many do not rule out that the creature was affected by radiation and now it is being evaluated whether the water in which it appeared still contains toxic residues from the plant.
The animal already was baptized as “Chernobyl fish” and caused the curiosity of several scientists. Some claim that the second mouth could just be an old wound that did not fully heal.
“Many of the mutations induced by radiation lead to reduced growth, survival and fertility. Mutants like this don’t usually live long enough to develop that much,” explained Timothy Mousseau, a scientist at the University of South Carolina, about the origin of the fish.
The professor pointed out that it is necessary to evaluate the level of radiation in the lake water before blaming the nuclear disaster. He added that the animals that are usually affected by this do not live long because they do not display some cognitive functions.
“Without properly controlled experiments, it is almost impossible to say with certainty what could be the cause, unless such a mutation has been observed before at other radioactive sites. This is one of the reasons why we observe both Chernobyl and Fukushima”, concluded the expert.
The environmental authorities are attentive to other types of similar findings in the area. The fish will continue to be analyzed and compared to other creatures that have been deformed by radiation.
You may be interested in:
Thousands of dead fish appear in a German-Polish river after a landfill of chemical waste
Strange fish found off the coast of Australia is described as “from another planet”
Mysterious creature appears on North Carolina beaches