A Prehistoric Fish in the Russian Pond

Prehistoric Fish in Russia 1

Look what they have found in Chelyabinsk city. The story is that there was a construction site with a deep foundation ditch. They have touched some underground river in that place so the water in the ditch didn’t get away so it stayed there full of water. Then some workers a few months later spotted some movement in this water, they threw some pieces of their lunch in the trench which caused a big activity inside. They were puzzled who is there? And caught one thing up then in big panic stepped away cause it tried to bite them so they had to kill it with some equipment and here are the remains of it. It was around 5 feet length. Nobody of them got any idea of what’s that:

Prehistoric Fish in Russia 2

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Prehistoric Fish in Russia 5

submitted by Valera

208 thoughts on “A Prehistoric Fish in the Russian Pond”

          • yes, much like a triops sort. i’ve seen them before, just not so large. definitely withthe three eyes and that tail and segments. not as much as horseshoecrab but definietely something close to triop. they love to eat shrimp and eachother and meat in general.

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        • Who says it must be prehistoric? It’s probably some kind of species yet unknown to man, but related to horseshoe crabs. Mind you, not all species on the face of earth are known to science.

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          • Well, which law of nature states that paleontologists are always right? 😛 Besides, Crocodiles are considered to be pre-historic animals too… I have very little trouble with the possibility that this is what it looks like, even though it can easily be a hoax.

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    • I agree with Bert. It is a horseshoe crab. They are common all up and down the east coast of America. They are bottom feeders and generally are not harmful to man. Sometimes they wash up on the shore after a heavy storm. Some cultures in the Orient actually eat horseshoe crabs and use the large shells in their arts and crafts to sell to tourists.

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      • Horseshoe crabs that I know of (growing up on the Jersey shore) have barbs for tails and not some fleshy thing like that. Please no one here say “Its a horseshoe crab” YOU do not KNOW so understand that a person can come along and believe you in your infinite knowledge and you will be aiding in stupefying the world. How about try…I’m NOT and expert, still live with my mother, and have never actually seen a horseshoe crab but in my opinion its a horseshoe crab.

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      • I’m doing a degree in Marine Biology – it is an close up picture of a Triop [A small Branchipod in the species Notostraca – along with crabs, shrimp, lobsters etc.]. They grow to a max of an inch or so, and live between 6-11 weeks. They have been around for the last 70 million years and have not changed very much since. They are similar to Sea Monkeys [Brine Shrimp – Artemia salina] in the way that there eggs hatch from are laid in sand. There eggs remain metabolically inactive (total stasis (standstill) for several years in a dry oxygen-free condition, and can even withstand temperatures below freezing and upto 80 degrees centigrade). Triops hatch in rain water (ammonia and nitrate free water – e.g. bottled water). They can be bought online or purchased in stores e.g. at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Interplay-UK-Wild-Science-Triop/dp/B00008OS3U. Here is an image of an adolescent triop, showing comparison to grains of sand – http://www.fischbar.de/triops/triops_1.jpg.

        Just to add – this news story is a hoax and a half. It is not a fish, and is from the Cretacious period and is fact helping to control mosquito populations by consuming mosquito larvae.

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    • Horseshoe crabs that I know of (growing up on the Jersey shore) have barbs for tails and not some fleshy thing like that. Please no one here say “Its a horseshoe crab” YOU do not KNOW so understand that a person can come along and believe you in your infinite knowledge and you will be aiding in stupefying the world. How about try…I’m NOT and expert, still live with my mother, and have never actually seen a horseshoe crab but in my opinion its a horseshoe crab.

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      • Stuart Halliday mate,
        looks asthough you’ve been to the location and caught a sample for yourself.
        This is pure political, (reading the replies) you cant leave Russian people alone to be proud of finding a new species not seen before, you must automatically compare to usa and downgrade the finding to nothing more then a joke.
        shame on you all!!!!!

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    • It’s not a photoshop, it’s a “tadpole shrimp”. It’s not even close to a foot long, though, much less five feet…and it’s definitely not a fish.

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      • ok. which means I’m gullible. yes, those pics are definitely of something tiny. they could have taken the sheen off the curve of water due to surface tension before posting.

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      • Looking at the few points of reference, this creature does not look like it is 5′. Its obviously not 2″ either. I’d say a little bigger than 1 foot, maybe 1.5.

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        • Look at the height of the water in the pictures, surface tension will only carry water so high. If this thing is an inch long, that’s stretching it.

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  1. It is foolish of us to think that we have discovered all the creatures that inhabit this earth.

    Incidentally, when I was in Russia this summer I saw a tv program “Neveroyatno no Fact” (unbelievable but fact), it featured eyewitnessed encounts, stories and evidence about dragon-like creatures found in the forest north of Moscow or maybe Kursk. I tried to find some information on the net, to scare my girlfriend, but have failed miserably. Does anyone has any more information on this creature?

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    • I don’t think Baltic States have such big problem with racism or xenophobia. I think the bigger problem is corruption, high rates of crime and inefficient law enforcement. Lenient and forgiving prison sentences. I think hightened nationalism is always noticeable in smaller countries – it is used by communities as self preservation method to resist outside influence. Look at the jewish community and their culture – they are probably even more nationalistic and xenophobic as a whole. It helped them throughout the years to remain jewish and preserve the language, religion and culture. Of course i’m not talking about skinheads or nazis – that is sick and i think russia has much bigger problem with fascists. I’m simply discussing crowd psychology.

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    • Yes we have already discussed the Hughes/Muiznieks articles. As I recall Mr. Muiznieks deliberately misquoted Hughes in several instances. However, Mr. Muizniek did admit that there are ethnic problems in the Baltic countries.

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      • Heh. 🙂

        1)
        Maybe I am wrong, but as much as I recall you might be recalling Boris Abramov saying that Muiznieks misquoted Hughes. Please correct me if I am wrong. Basically, as I remember, Hughes article was, let me put it this way – biased wishful thinking, to say the least.

        2)
        And, I guess, everyone knows that there are ethnic problems in Baltic states, especially in Latvia, because, after killing and/or carrying away to concentration camps quite few of the native population, Soviets brought in more Russian speaking colonists then German Nazis ever planed to bring in German colonists in accordance to their Ostland plan. Many of those are people, who consider Baltic countries more or less openly a legitimate acquisition by the Great Russia. Hence aggressiveness and arrogance against the local language and culture.

        They are not mistreated, as Boris Abramov is trying to tell. Instead, they are Privileged Class no more. That is what drives them mad with hatred.

        Poor “oppressed minority” of recent liberator-conquerors, with some another 140 million with tanks and nuclear weapons sitting just some 150 miles East. F#ck! 🙂

        Of course, I am not talking about all Russian speakers, normally, in everyday life we get along very well. What I mean basically are “activists” like Boris here.

        You might want to see Ethnic structure of Latvia

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    • Dear Baltic Nationalist/talking beaver,

      Firstly, come yourself down. Your verbal outburst simply perpetuates the perceived level of intolerance to contrary opinions, and any criticism of internal affairs, in the Baltic states.

      Thank you for the link that you have so kindly provided. Let me say, that what I saw was absolutely horrific! In particular, it demonstrates to what awful extend nationalistic ideas can lead.

      Sadly, Russia is also experiencing a rise of nationalism, which is not being addressed effectively. But let me say this again – there is a big difference between neo-Nazism in Russia and neo-Nazism in the Baltic states. The difference is that neo-Nazism is not State-Supported in Russia, as it is in the Baltics.

      For example, the forth link that I provided, looks at children’s xenophobic books in Estonia which have been approved by the Ministry of Education. These books feature kids “Jokes” such as: “Why do Russians wear straw hats? because you always must hay on manure” and “what is the most wide spread animal in Estonia? Russians”. Frankly, when I saw this, I was absolutely appalled! These have to be the most hateful racist “jokes” that I have ever heard! What’s even more disturbing, is that they have been approved by the Estonian government as a suitable education material for kids. I mean come-on, how can anyone deny that individuals in Estonian government are not sick neo-Nazis?

      Or take the Estonian monument to SS solders. This monument has also been approved, if not financed, buy the sick people in charge of Estonia. This monument basically glorifies people who have burned Jewish women and children in OVENS! I really cannot believe that a government that is now part of the European Union is committed to such hatful ideology. I think this yet again, proves the sickening hypocrisy of the EU.

      I find it very sad that when I criticise Estonian, or any other Baltic governments, people of these countries regard it as a personal attack. If anything, I think this yet again proves that Nazi propaganda in these countries is working very-very well.

      My condolences to people of Estonia.

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      • ….For example, the forth link that I provided, looks at children’s xenophobic books in Estonia which have been approved by the Ministry of Education. These books feature kids “Jokes” such as: “Why do Russians wear straw hats? because you always must hay on manure” and “what is the most wide spread animal in Estonia? Russians”…..

        Can You read in estonian. I can. I newer found such jokes in those books. So sad. That animal joke was pretty nice.

        Most those jokes are translated to estonia from english or russian replacing tsuktsi or negro with some other nation name. Good luck those are mostly russian jokes.

        By the way there is lot of jokes about estonians themselve allso. ” What is estonian national food ? Other estonian. etc…

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    • Firstly, I am not pro-Moscow 🙂 That has to be the weirdest thing that anyone has ever said to me. LOL

      Secondly, it’s funny how you say that “I try to destabilise the situation”. As far as I am concerned, I am trying to help the people of Baltic States (both minorities and native population) to understand how their government is using then as “sheep” to pursue their, or rather American, political agendas against Russia. If you wish to call it “destabilising” it is your choice.

      You, on the other hand, never miss an opportunity to spread your hatful, racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic message.

      Shame on you!

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      • I am sorry, can you clarify what YOU mean by the term “pro-Moscow”? Are you by any chance implying that I might be pro-Putin? 🙂

        With regards to “American or other “political agendas against Russia” – I think its pretty obvious to anyone more or less sane, not just the “pro-Moscow elements”. 🙂

        Isn’t it strange (or perhaps not so) how you haven’t even tried to dispute any of the links I have provided? Yet you persisit in saying that there is no nationalism, racism and xenophobia in the Baltics. Hmmm..

        On the other hand, I quess it’s not easy to dispute FACTS 🙂 or should it be this 🙁

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        • I do not want to discuss your “facts” because I have done it so many times before, that I am sick of it. I might do it when I am bored.

          P.S. It is much easier for you, you can just copy+paste from Russian press. An if you are debunked you can just ignore it and say the same thing the next day and to start it all over again. Patience and resources, right, comrade?

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          • No, you don’t want to discuss facts beacuse you know full-well that it would be impossible to dispute them. Because quess what? – they are FACTS!

            Baltic States are in trouble and racists like you (besides the government) are a significant part of the problem.

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    • Right.

      We all know what the water is. We also know quite well what its surface tension is.

      Thus, from the “bulges” at the boundaries of the water puddle we can approximately guess the scale.

      I would say the creature is relatively small. Ten inches, if we count the tail, maybe. Well, that is a rough guess.

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      • As I remeber from old russian time there was common steel plate with sqweres about 1-1,2 inch 3-4 cm. it makes about 40 50 cm. Prety large for triops.

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  2. It’s awfully large for a triops. Since it’s got a hard shell, creepy legs, a slimy tail and a tendency to bite, I can understand why this creature may be found only in Russia. HA HA HA!

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    • Are you perhaps blind? Your link pics look bugger all like the pics above unlike triops pictures at http://blog.sekano.org/?cat=104 which look EXACTLY the same. Man get some brains.
      Oh and this things is around 7-8 inches long from top to tail. Just look at the water where it meets the dry concrete. Would the light reflection at the water edge look like that if it was 5 feet big? I think not.

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  3. this is a triops. if you look at the water it “mounds” up/distorts the light in a round manner. this means that it has to be really small. this is just a close up shot of something very small like 2-3 inches.

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  4. I highly doubt that this thing was 5 feet in length. You can look at the way the surface tension builds on the puddle of water around it, and estimate that its under 2 inches long.

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  5. it is a creature from the underbelli of the earth

    lots of future discoveries like this will happen
    yep, in the future

    dont be surprised when an highli inteligent beast of the underworld emerges

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  6. Definitely not 5 feet. If it was 5 feet long then the thing that they appear to have flipped it over with was the size of my front door. I’m pretty sure you could find something a little easier to wield.

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  7. This is an ‘alien’ lamprey grown from spores left by the Tunguska event in 1908. These have been known to ‘sprout’ out of lakes and rivers in Russia ever since the comet exploded. They attach themselves to animals, usually livestock, like leeches and digest the animal from the iside out with a highly acidic excrement. They are widely regarded as the first alien species to invade this planet. Russians call them ‘сок обезьянка’ or roughly translated ‘juice monkey’.

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    • I can vouch for all of the above.

      And you can trust me, because I’m a doctor.

      (actually I’m a gynaecologist but this is my lunch hour).

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  8. It is indeed a horsecrab. They are common along the east coast of America from Maine to Florida. They are bottom feeders and are quite harmless to man. Several places in the Orient actually eat the critters and use the large shells in their arts and crafts to sell to tourists. Generally you will find them washed up on the seashore after a big storm.

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  9. I’d place that thing at about 3 feet… Not 5 feet and definitely not just a few inches long.

    Having owned triops, I can say with full confidence that this thing is not one. It most definitely can be related to the triops, though. That would surely explain its sudden revival from the water.

    Ahh, suspended animation is awesome.

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  10. “Nobody of them got any idea of what’s that”
    … I’m guessing the author was the construction worker who found it.

    Jesus.

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  11. I’ve seen this in my paleontology class. It looks to me like a type of branchiopod, of the phylum arthropoda. Probably the triops.

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  12. I wonder how long before this thing ends up on snopes? The important thing is that the “5 feet long” part of the story is patently false. Look at the pores in the concrete, and the fact that the photographer somehow managed to keep anything that might give a better sense of scale out of the picture. Then the dramatic details about how this toothless animal tried to bite its discoverers…

    It’s a beautiful triops, no need to surround it with lies to make it interesting.

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  13. Yeah, it’s a shield shrimp of some kind. Not a Horseshoe Crab, and definitely not 5 feet long. Even 5 inches is pushing it, from the water spreading, relative detail on the metal surface & specimen, as well as the camera angle.

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  14. I’ve lived around horseshoe crabs all my life and I’ve earned a BS in Biology and I can tell anyone here that that creature is not a horseshoe crab. It is almost certainly a triops and its size has been greatly exaggerated. And it probably didn’t try to bite anyone either.

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  15. The world can once again sleep safely thanks to the internet and the freedom loving alien from the pothole in the street finding workers. Any excuse for a day off…lord they must be bored there.

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  16. Yes, it’s a triops (I’m positive). They get 1-2 inches long depending on species (shell plus tail). I used to have some as pets. My species only lived about 8 weeks long. But their eggs can survive drying out, so they are easy to buy in some stores or via the internet.

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  17. my guess is one inch, and yes, it’s a Triops. You can see the two tantacle like pieces at the end of the tail wrapped around eachother making it look like a particularly long sinister tail. And no, nothing was photoshoped. The picture just doesn’t show scale.

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  18. Ultimate facehugger – has anyone noticed that science fiction always becomes real science?

    like when they discovered that the morray eel has a second mouth that comes out and chomps at prey? just like alien…

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  19. I am sure this creature is indeed 5 feet long, or even more. picture was photoshopped though, so it looks smaller, and this way this will not cause global panic. now all you ‘i-can-google’ geeks thinks it is not what it is in fact, which is.. i don’t know. but sure it is not from earth, not from our universe at all.
    however, me and couple of ladies are going to hide and live somewhere in siberia, wait for world to collapse and then start a new era of mankind. i mean, more intelligent, more beautiful and sexier mankind.
    here are pictures of my ladies: http://englishrussia.com/?p=1582 – of course it wasn’t what it looked like, it was only for the rest of the world not to know what te future is.
    have a nice day.

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  20. It’s a tadpole shrimp. Also, look at the beading of the water. The water is elevated by surface tension, and without something to give it structure, I believe it’s just a 1mm-2mmin height giving you some scale. Also, the granularity of the surface it’s on appears, to me, to be highly magnified concrete.

    Nice hoax, though.

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  21. I think this is some sort of marketing promotion for the new JJ Abramson film due out in January 2008. They are doing some viral marketing with fake web sites all around the world and dummy videos on youtube. This looks just like the creature in his film.

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  22. WHY? Why would you write an article so completely fake and easy to disprove?

    Durr hurr it’s 5 feet long and prehistoric duhhh.

    The triop doesn’t even look 5 inches in that photo. This is just embarrassing.

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  23. I wanted to believe this as much as the next ‘the truth is out there’ buff but after looking at both the horseshoe crab and the triop, it is definetely one of them. You people have to remember that it’s not gonna look EXACTLY like the pics you get of either on the net (afterall, not all dogs of the same breed look EXACTLY the same) but it’s resembles both too damn close to be coinicidence. Give it up and move onto the next internet fad. There are some nice faked UFO vids on YouTube.

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  24. Isn’t it sad that people will try and fake a story like this. Triops are pretty incredible creatures anyway. As for the Horseshoe crab theorists. You won in Vietnam.

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  25. Those things that everyone is everyone is calling “triops” all have forked, shorter tails and are a lighter color than the above photos, if the picture is taken as authentic. I don’t know much about this stuff, except what I can see – and even with my untrained eye I can see that this creature, large or tiny, is not a “trops.” More suggestions please!

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    • There are many species of triops, with differences in size and color. And as for the forked tail? Look at the last picture, the fork is held together by the water’s surface tension. A little more proof that it is about 1 inch long.

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      • No, you’re right, I kind of see the forked tail under water int he one picture. Why does its shell look different than other kinds of triops, do you think? I couldn’t find pictures of a specific kind which match the one in the photos.

        And by the way – how do such academically-achieved sounding folks have time to come to this site and identify this creature (I wouldn’t think this would be news). What field are you studied in, that you would know so much about “triops” and “surface tension?” Just curious, that’s all. I’m certainly no expert with my degrees in English!

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  26. Actually it IS a prehistoric creature,that lives to this day,just like the aligator and crocodile,or shark for that matter,it’s a brachiopode and one of the oldest living fossils,around 200 mil years old,there are in fact more prehistoric cretures in the seas,lakes etc than we think.

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  27. this is a Triop, I have been raising them for quite some time. although the largest i have ever seen or heard of is 5 inches not 5 feet. either some one is good at doctoring pictures or has a very bad sense of measurement. they just dont grow that big, and most live no longer than 90 days at the most. they are considered to be preistoic, there has been fossilized remains found in 250 million year old rocks.

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  28. y…yo no soy de estados unidos pero vieron a ese pez y lo cagaron a palos???que mal!!!:( es como si yo viera un animal nunca antes visto y lo mato eso vale pura fortuna!!!!!

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  29. It’s none of the above – it’s a descendant of some kind of trilobite, and no, I don’t believe it’s any 5 feet, either.

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  30. Since the metal thing in the object looks like a file a welder or pipefitter would use (which are about 2″ wide), that object is very likely a triop.

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  31. This creature is a very …well HUGE Triops species and may be nearly 5 inches long judging from the gigantic seperation at more than 5 different places (unless someone was GREAT with photoshop)

    I am positive that this was only an accidental mistranslation of 5 inches (still awsome!) to 5 feet. I
    dought it was a purposful “fake” but I could ALWAYS be wrong.

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  32. this looks very small.I don’t think this is fake,this is too real for photoshop.anywayz they already found animals which are “not existing” already

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  33. 20 years ago,there were many insects like this in my hometown’s ponds,we caught them to feed fowls, but they were 2 or 3 inches only. In this articl “It was around 5 feet length.”,I have doubts about it. My hometown is in Northeast Region of China。

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  34. by the way…i live in florida. thats no damn horshoe crab. good chance at a triops though, but theyre extremely much smaller….ive not seen anything living like this in a good long while.

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  35. lmfao
    no one is even bothering to google triops even though it IS a triop.

    you can actually buy a kit on how to grow them.
    it works, my biology teacher did it and we have at least 20 of them.

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  36. Hm, well, if this is a fake then that is a latex model, since water cannot be faked, and that water is obviously around 2 feet in width, judging from the way its soaked in and formed. If you take a photo of water then you can tell how close it is, water looks different and ‘inflated’ up close.
    The water, the dirt, and the cracks are the biggest keys here and the reflection also helps a lot. You cant get that kind of picture from a small thing.

    If its real then awesome, if its fake then its a very realistic replica, and no its not a triop 😐

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  37. it looks simelar to a triop but a triop is nearly transparent becaulse of it’s size and this one is not + it dsent have the antn orthe 2 fellers at the end if the tail + the color is wrong.i do how ever think the photo is misleading as it tries to make the creature look bigger than it is by using a pice of rubber and making it look like a black slab.you can tell it’s rubber as it bends at the point where it is on top of the creature.there are many such creatures but they live deep down on the in the ocean….
    it’s a old creature but not the only one

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  38. With enormous radiation from nuclear dumps in the Urals and all over the country NO WONDER why so many weird monsters evolve there lately including humans….

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  39. Neither a fish, nor a Horseshoe Crab (which only lives in salt water).

    Definitely a Triops (Tadpole shrimp). Judging the tail length and shape of the carapace (head-shield), likely a Triops granarius. I estimate its size at a little over an inch and a half (appr. 3.5 centimeters). I have an aquarium full of Triops. They inhabit temporary ponds and their eggs can survive dry periods of decades. All it takes is some water to hatch them again. In this way they have survived in an almost unchanged form for the last 300 million years.

    Whoever translated the original Russian description must have changed “5 foto” (foto = photograph) into “5 foot.”

    Triops rarely make it over 3 inches.

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  40. 日本ではカブトエビと呼ばれ水田に多く生息しているようですが

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  41. CHELYABINSK, Russia — According to a local report, A strange prehistoric creature has been found in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. The creature, still unidentified, appeared in a flooded ditch at a construction site. Evidently the deep ditch was inundated by a underground river and sat full of water for quite some time.

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