BreakTheChain.org

Monday March 17, 2003

HARTSVILLE, S.C. -- An 8-year-old boy fishing with his grandfather for > > the first time in a South Carolina lake made the catch of the century -- a fish with a human face!

Puzzled marine biologists say the mysterious creature, which sports a distinctly man-like nose and jagged, eerily human teeth, is like nothing they've ever seen before.

"We have not yet ascertained whether this fish belongs to a previously unidentified species that has lived in the waters of North America for centuries, is the by-product of genetic tinkering or is a random mutation caused by something in the environment," says Dr. Gregory Hickens, the famed marine biologist who specializes in unusual wildlife.

"We do know that this is one of the most spectacular finds in decades."

The strange fish was caught in Lake H.B. Robinson by a little boy from Detroit named Aaron Krendell, who was visiting his grandparents.

"I never saw a fish like that before," he says.

The boy's 71-year-old grandfather, Clayton, who asked that his last name not be used, helped the youngster reel in the 7 1/2-inch fish.

"I pulled it off the hook and held it up for Aaron so he could see the size of it, telling him, 'You're a right good fisherman, son,' " the oldster recalls.

"I'm about to toss it in the bucket when Aaron starts hollering, 'Look, look, Grandpa -- he looks like Uncle Steve.'

"At first I thought he was just being a city kid. Then I turned it to me and, holy smokes, it sure did have a man's face. I nearly dropped the damned thing.

"Then, what about gave me a heart attack was it started moving its lips like it was trying to talk. I tossed it in the bucket pretty darned quick.

"I stood there holding my chest while it flopped around in the bucket, trying to figure out what to do -- throw the ugly thing back and try to forget I ever saw it, or put it in water and find some expert to take a look at it."

Luckily for the science world, he chose to take the amazing find to a professor pal at a local college, who contacted state fish and wildlife officials.

The old man says he wants to set the facts straight about one thing.

"A rumor's been going around saying that the fish asked me to throw it back," he says. "I never told anybody that. What I said was it moved its lips like it was asking me to throw it back. Besides, it's all dried up and deader than a doornail now."

Officials have launched an investigation, bringing in Miami-based Dr. Hickens and other experts. Bigwigs refuse to discuss the case -- or even confirm the discovery of the fish -- until its origins are better understood. Efforts to find and capture another human-faced fish may be in the works.

"There's got to be more where that one came from," says a spokesman from the governor's office.

"We've asked the local press to help us keep a lid on this thing and they've been very cooperative."

Still, rumors have leaked out, creating quite a stir in the close-knit community.

One concern is that a nuclear power plant sits on the lake and that radiation in the waste water may have spawned the freak.

Plant officials insist that the facility is completely safe.