Claim: Photograph shows a "pigfish" with distinctively porcine ears and snout.
Example: [Collected via Facebook, March 2014]
A new species of fish has been discovered in Texas creeks. It's know as the Wild Hogfish and can be extremely aggressive, and their numbers are increasing like crazy. Very tasty, a little like bacon, they are good eatin'. Once reintroduced domestically, they become goldfish.
This 'pig-nose fish', was found in the dam of Clanwilliam, flowing waters of the Burg Rivers of Cape Town, South Africa. I have never seen one of these critters but doubt it that it would be kosher or halaal.
Amazing new fish discovered in Arkansas.
Origins: The image displayed above has been circulated via social media with accompanying text variously describing
it as showing a "pigfish," a "pig-nose fish," and a "wild hogfish," a type of fish supposedly found in locales ranging from Arkansas to Texas to South Africa.
Although there is a taxonomic family of fish (Congiopodidae) collectively known as pigfish and at least one species of fish called a hogfish, none of them exhibits the distinctive porcine ears and snout shown in this picture.
In fact, this image is simply a digitally manipulated version of an ordinary photograph of a rather common and visually unremarkable type of fish:
Last updated: 12 March 2014
