Phuket Deep Sea Oceanlife Washed Ashore: Hoax (PHOTOS)

EDIT: I thought these creatures looked unusually well-preserved to make it onto the dissection table. Thanks to "Don"  (see comments) for pointing out that this was a hoax.
From Snopes (link below):

Though they are genuine images of some rather strange deep-sea creatures, these photographs have nothing to do with the Indian Ocean tsunami. They date from mid-2003 and were taken as part of the NORFANZ voyage, a joint Australian-New Zealand research expedition conducted in May-June 2003 to explore deep sea habitats and biodiversity in the Tasman Sea.   These photographs can be viewed on Australia's National Oceans Office web site.

 Last updated:   13 January 2005

The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/photos/tsunami/creature.asp

 

In the aftermath of the tsunami...

Viper fish ( click to enlarge pics)

Umbrella Mouth Gulper

Tongue Sole

Swimmer Crab (This guy I could see on my dinner plate.)

Stone Crab

Stargazer (Nice name --u-g-l-y fish.)

 

Shovel-nosed Lobster

Sea Spider

Prickly shark

Oreo Dory

Hatchetfish

Gunard

Firefly Squid

Fangtooth

Crab

Coffinfish

 

Chimaera pup

Chimaera fish

Carrier Shell (Isn't this thing cool?)

Blob Fish (Fitting, no?)

Blind Lobster (Guess there's not much need for eyes in the blackest depths of the sea.)

 

Black Dragon fish (OMG)

Basketwork Eel (It just gets curiouser and curiouser.)

Aphyonus

It fascinates me to have to opportunity to view sea creatures that were never meant to see the light of day. From the condition of most of these, someone considered them important enough to collect, classify, and catalog even amidst the horrible;e aftermath of what brought them them in from the sea.
No, it doesn't help the survivors of the tsunami, but it does advance our understanding of the unique and intriguing varieties of sea life that swim in the farthest depths of the Indian Ocean.

(Much thanks to "Angel"  for the email that contained these photos.)

Comments

[bella]

Dude this is Freakin awsome
plus it's useful for my school project!
:)

[Serene]

I saw your pics and DAMN your HOT! ^-~

~~~~

those sea creatures are pretty kool, Black Dragon fish and fangtooth look so awesome.

***Thank you! :blush:

--Cyn

[Howard Veit]

I've had two emails of those things in the past hour. I believed. I bought Enron at the top.

[Don]

Fact: These creatures are real.
Fiction: They washrd up after the Tsunami (False)

See: http://www.snopes.com/photos/tsunami/creature.asp

[Steve Archuletta]

This is very cool, I am glad I got to see some of these.