Russian fisherman discovers terrifying ‘baby dragon’ creature with wings and tail
I love Pokémon as much as any other zillenial. In fact, I spent my youth switching between Diamond and Pearl and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness—even trying my hand at Rescue Team DX as a challenge. Though I was never really any good at it and mostly stuck to My Pokémon Ranch (not very ‘gamer girl’ of me, I know), I always had a fascination with the wonderful creatures created in the series. Now, it seems that they don’t just exist as fictional characters as a real life Pokémon creature has been discovered—and there may be others swirling in the seas below us too.
Get your dose of the weird and wonderful today, folks, as a real life ‘dragon’ Pokémon that could give Charizard a run for his money has been found. Roman Fedortsov, a Russian fisherman aged 39, hauled the bizarre creature out from the Norwegian sea. Watch out Kyurem and Eternatus, you’ve got a new rival coming your way and this one has wings.
Upon his finding, Fedorstov, based in Murmansk, immediately posted the amphibian on his Instagram account and showcased pictures taken of the shocking discovery—as he does with many others. One creature in particular that he revealed on his page is pink in colour, with a long glob-like tongue. In the post, Fedortsov quoted H.P Lovecraft in the caption: “Just a quote, ‘It’s one thing to chase something nameless, but quite another thing to find it’.”
Ever since the dragon in question graced Instagram, it has amassed worldwide attention—with more than 22,000 likes and commenters displaying their shock, horror and curiosity towards the beast on the platform. One person wrote, “It looks a little like a newly hatched dragon to me. Lol.” Indeed, it does. Another admitted, “God. The Dragon. Cool what! Who is this anyway??”
Fedorstov, who frequently documents bizarre fishes with his phone,casts his net mostly in the Barents Sea among the northern coasts of Russia—which opens out to the Arctic Ocean. Many of his expeditions take him down as far as 3,000 feet below the surface. However, his travels do extend beyond the seas of Russia—including the Atlantic Ocean, just a stone throw away from the coast of Africa.
What’s more is that other creatures he has uncovered are said to resemble that of a burger. That’s right, it’s a good ol’ whopper fish apparently. Another sea urchin he dug up from the depths below looked like a juicy jam doughnut that’s ready to pop.
One video that Fedorstov posted last year features a particularly weird looking catfish—akin to the one that freaked me out as a kid at the start of Finding Nemo—baring its teeth. In the post, Fedortsov wrote, “By the way, catfish are very tenacious, so you need to be careful with them. Especially when she’s pretending to be dead! […] And yes, she even bites through rubber boots very well.”
Far from being a magical and mythical beast, the cartoon-like fish actually is a fish, not a dragon. Though you may feel disappointed, fear not, because the peculiar catch’s real identity is anything but—as it has since been identified as a chimaera. Chimaeras, in terms of cartilaginous fish, are also dubbed ‘ghost sharks’ by many trawlers.
This is not the first alien creature to find itself above the surface of the sea and capturing media attention either, as a mysterious bloated corpse with rat-like claws washed up on a Queensland beach at the end of March 2022.
Well, if you’ve fallen hook, line and sinker into the world of strange fish, Fedorstov’s Instagram is the place to be for sure, with an array of frightening fish to truly rock your boat. May as well open the can of worms and get stuck in it, right?
