‘Penis-fish’ startles aquarium visitor as it resembles something very rude – The Sun

A "PENIS-fish" startled an aquarium visitor as it resembled something very rude – but she proceeded to take pictures of the uniquely shaped aquatic animal.

Stephanie Walen, 32, spotted a type of rockfish – which at a certain angle looks like external human male genitalia  – at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Oregon.

The Oregon native and grocery worker photographed the phallic-shaped fish at a straight angle as it swam up a glass wall.

"People were so flabbergasted and some quite mortified by my photos, I had thousands of people asking whether its a penis or a c**kfish," Stephanie said.

Thousands of people have reached out to Stephanie after she shared to photos to the internet – as many are shocked by the shape of the fish.

Despite the rock fish's unique appearance, it's not the only fish that make many people take a second look.

Last year, thousands of pulsing "penis-fish" washed up on a California beach after a storm forced them out of their underwater burrows.

These sausage-like creatures – known as the "fat innkeeper worm" or Urechis caupo – appeared on Drakes Beach due to the bad weather on December 6.

A marine life expert writing for Bay Nature explained that strong storms may have forced the bulbous creatures out of their burrows and exposed to predators.

Parr acknowledged that the shape of this phallic fish "has some explaining to do" when a concerned reader queried why they were there.

He described how these spoonworms make U-shaped burrows under the mud or sand that it leaves behind for other creatures to move in.

These toothless creatures have been around for a while with fossil evidence of their U-shaped burrows dating back a whopping 300 million years.

Some can live for 25 years but they have myriad threats, including humans, otters, flounders, sharks, rays, and seagulls.

These worms are a delicacy in East Asia, where their two-legged predator enjoys chowing down on a penis-fish or two with a dash of salt.

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