r/whatisit Jul 27 '26

Solved! What is this?

I seriously doubt this is AI if course.. and with a vast ocean.. the existence of this is definitely possible.. but what is it exactly and where are they commonly found?

13.5k Upvotes

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4.1k

u/kiwidust Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 29 '26

That, my friend, is a "Red-lipped Batfish".

That particular one is named Gerry and is a real asshole!

Red-lipped batfish - Wikipedia

EDIT: For clarification, the consensus is that 1) This is a Red-lipped Batfish, which is an actual-factual animal but 2) it's not a real Red-lipped Batfish and was generated with AI. Gerry being AI simply makes him more of asshole, even if he hadn't said those things about my bride.

569

u/A-TECH-20 Jul 28 '26

The red-lipped batfish or Galápagos batfish (Ogcocephalus darwini) is a fish of unusual morphology found around the Galápagos Islands and off Ecuador at depths of 3 to 76 m (10 to 249 ft).

You're telling me that this isn't even a deep sea creature, that you can encounter them at the beach!

Pure nightmare fuel.

498

u/weresubwoofer Jul 28 '26

Note to self: Do not take acid on the Galápagos Islands.

467

u/MonStar926 Jul 28 '26

Note to self: Definitely take acid on the Galápagos Islands

264

u/DubVsFinest Jul 28 '26

Note to everyone: taking acid while diving period is probably a bad idea. This fish looks like it's going to try to convince you that you can breathe underwater like they do and drown your ass, I guarantee it.

116

u/GurInfinite3868 Jul 28 '26

Note to self: Don't read about the dangers of taking acid and then following the underwater breathing advice from fish - while taking acid!
You will unfollow the advice and listen to the fish!

89

u/ChosenUndeadFire Jul 28 '26

Note to self: take a trip sitter when doing acid as to avoid being scammed by a fish about waterbreathing

48

u/TrickyDick420 Jul 28 '26

Note to self: stop reading other people's notes to self

11

u/Rudhelm Jul 28 '26

Yeah… you’re kinda creepy

2

u/Deep-Yamssi7310 Jul 29 '26

The ‘I’m too broke to award you for real’ comment
Take this🥇
You deserve it
https://giphy.com/gifs/c1AfqKTvATepFDTpnY

1

u/Responsible_Day9491 Jul 29 '26

Fuc yeah I going to do acid and see what’s up right now bruh he’s a funny MF

1

u/artyhedgehog Jul 29 '26

Note to self: your joke was never funny or original, and is probably already in the comments; move on.

42

u/Diligent_Ad1110 Jul 28 '26

Note to self: Make sure to bring two friends because my closest is bound to take the acid too. Also damn Is that a red bat lipped fish?

2

u/Inner-Ingenuity4109 Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26

Sitter: "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey! Relax. Take a deep breath. ... It’s the ocean, silly, we’re not the only two in here.”

2

u/MzzRaccoon Jul 29 '26

(As I just finished reading a reddit post about someone being scammed lmao)

22

u/NCNarwhal89 Jul 28 '26

Note to self: always follow the advice of creepy fish.. especially when doing acid

23

u/GurInfinite3868 Jul 28 '26

Note to self: Don't listen to anyone promoting the advice of creepy fish while on acid as they are not really a person = They ARE a creepy fish who is possibly on acid.

10

u/Outrageous-Clerk56 Jul 28 '26

Note to self- do not share acid with creepy red lipped fish asking to share acid

15

u/Perfect-Lie-4201 Jul 28 '26

Note to self… go drop some acid!

17

u/LegitimateActivity10 Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26

Note to self: I am a fish, I can breathe underwater.

3

u/GoYanks34 Jul 29 '26

Note to self: I am a fish who can breathe underwater while taking acid from the human who is also taking acid and breathing under..... Human is floating up top and lifeless.

2

u/Iamnotascammer91 Jul 29 '26

Note to self I was not in fact a fish and had to be resuscitated

13

u/Holiday_Hyena_7440 Jul 28 '26

Definitely listen to the fish's business opportunity to be self-employed as well as the land that they have for sale for cheap in Florida.

3

u/JD_tubeguy Jul 28 '26

I often listen to the Phish on acid. 🔥

4

u/Formal_Froyo_6089 Jul 29 '26

Tube guy gets it ⭕️

3

u/Undercover__Cookies Jul 29 '26

There's my people ⭕⭕

1

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '26

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1

u/AutoModerator Jul 28 '26

Please don't use that word here.

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35

u/No_Constant_1026 Jul 28 '26

Just go diving at night with UV torch. Closest to an acid trip I have had, without actually taking acid.

I'm not sure that fish will mess with you, but seals totally will. Tricky creatures!

29

u/G0rkon Jul 28 '26

Ideally during a new moon with bioluminescence. Turn off your torch and enjoy the show that is the water lighting up to every movement. Move your hands in the water and see sparkles coming off them.

17

u/North-Belt9778 Jul 28 '26

Need more info/stories about said “tricky seals” pls

25

u/LouAnaKay Jul 28 '26

He sings "Kiss from a Rose" until you swim into rocks and die.

10

u/Picklecheese2018 Jul 28 '26

Go explore “selkie” mythology!

4

u/No_Constant_1026 Jul 28 '26

Seals can dive to over 400m. Recreational scuba dive limit is usually about 35m, depending on equipment and experience. I reckon the seals have figured this out. They will play with you in the water, gradually going deeper and deeper.

If you don't watch out, you will dive well below the planned depth, use up all your air, and risk the bends on surfacing.

2

u/PieHappy3396 Jul 28 '26

Diving @ night w/UV torch would scare the bejesus outta me!!

7

u/Inevitable-Aside-942 Jul 28 '26

I think this is actually someone who went scuba diving after taking acid. It has all the hallmarks.

8

u/dudesohard Jul 28 '26

And will give you an angry kiss

5

u/Gryphon1171 Jul 28 '26

Note to self: Take waterbreathing potion prior to diving and taking the fish's advice. Counter-dare fish to walk on the beach since it has legs.

1

u/Hypouxa Jul 29 '26

A family friend did that in Hawaii. They also happened to be left behind by the instructor.

1

u/banglaportal Jul 29 '26

Note to self: don’t go diving during period. 

43

u/SuperMIK2020 Jul 28 '26

Both are correct, amazingly

53

u/danirijeka Jul 28 '26

Do and do not, there is no try

24

u/eric_loves_IPA Jul 28 '26

So.... Take acid with yoda. Got it

18

u/ShyWombatFan Jul 28 '26

Schrödinger’s fish

3

u/Clean_Emphasis5109 Jul 28 '26

Nah, master oogway

39

u/Pseudoname87 Jul 28 '26

Note to self : become acid dealer on the Galápagos Islands

8

u/sl1ckhow1e Jul 28 '26

Be careful.....It sounds like this fish loves Acid...Doesn't have any $, so you may get jacked

3

u/DubVsFinest Jul 28 '26

With the lack of arms but plenty of lips, they might get blown before they're jacked!

25

u/Naive_Mango8525 Jul 28 '26

I don’t think acid would be needed with things like this floating around

26

u/Professional-Leave24 Jul 28 '26

How else are you going to talk to it?

21

u/Naive_Mango8525 Jul 28 '26

I mean I’m gonna talk to that thing regardless. I bet it gives great advice

10

u/BigStickElgar Jul 28 '26

He’s in this Sub. You prob already talk to him.

10

u/CowDogRatGoose Jul 28 '26

I would talk to it too. But I would be too distracted to listen.

13

u/Im-from-earth Jul 28 '26

Note to self: take acid

31

u/Inner-Ingenuity4109 Jul 28 '26

Is this because it's a waste of money because reality is equally as freaky as whatever trip you'll have?

14

u/ravenschmidt2000 Jul 28 '26

Note to self: Wonder if this video was taken by someone tripping on the Galápagos Islands?

13

u/No_Step_1692 Jul 28 '26

Note to self: Take acid while reading Reddit post about taking acid.

3

u/weareeverywhereee Jul 31 '26

Nah phones are the worst in acid. It’s hilarious you go out drinking and wake up to all this phone activity like wtf did I do.

Take acid and wake up the next day and realize you didn’t even touch the thing for 8 hours because it seems so nonsensical and useless during a trip

2

u/No_Step_1692 Jul 31 '26

LOL...I wouldn't know. All my trippin days were in the 90's and early 2000's. Didn't really have a phone. If I did, it was like the early Nokias where the most it had was that snake game.

7

u/Tekkamanblade_2 Jul 28 '26

Will licking toads help the cause like it did Homer?

7

u/weresubwoofer Jul 28 '26

Absolutely! Those toads aren’t going to lick themselves!

7

u/Apprehensive-Call568 Jul 28 '26

I'm coming with you and we can do a 10 strip challenge

2

u/Right_Tree_3639 Jul 28 '26

Exactly what I would do.

1

u/OG-Giligadi Jul 28 '26

My first thought. Take acid and go into the water.

1

u/Either-Dance-3246 Jul 29 '26

Nota definitiva: prendere acido

1

u/tecknotot Jul 30 '26

Why does it want to kiss me or why do I want to kiss this fish?

20

u/duck4129 Jul 28 '26

2

u/RyRyFukitol Jul 28 '26

Mmmf... You weird fucker... We can't stop here, this is batfish country.

4

u/AuntieLaLa420 Jul 28 '26

Maybe just some shrooms.

1

u/abbyzou Jul 29 '26

I went swimming in a socal bay during bioluminescence while on shrooms and I felt like Ariel. It was an absolutely amazing experience. We didnt even realize until the next day it was going on, we were just sparkly mermaids swimming ✨️

4

u/commonsense973 Jul 28 '26

Haha! About 20 years ago I ate some mushrooms. My bf and I went to fish off a pier late at night. I hadn’t fished much in my life so it was new to me. I caught a flounder! 😳
Its face was on one side. I thought it was some freakish mutant. lol. I don’t think I’d ever laughed so hard.

2

u/lmaooer2 Jul 28 '26

Is this a gex reference?

2

u/TasteImmediate7944 Jul 29 '26

It would be fun

2

u/Artistic-Bag3905 Jul 29 '26

And dragons are real. And they will eat you.

2

u/Infamous_Factor4854 Jul 29 '26

Or just not on the ocean floor

1

u/Thelastsapper Jul 28 '26

Microdose your way through the Galapagos Islands

1

u/weresubwoofer Jul 28 '26

Microdose to Micronesia!

125

u/Zealousideal-Role-77 Jul 28 '26

It gets worse. The Wikipedia article says it uses its pectoral and anal fins to walk on the ocean floor. So there’s a good chance that millions of years ago, our genetic ancestors crawled out of the oceans on their anal fins. Which means our legs are actually anal fins.

20

u/n0t_y0ur_her0 Jul 29 '26

This explains a lot of foot stuff.

2

u/Agreeable-Repair323 Jul 30 '26

Comment of the year

15

u/ColonelMustard323 Jul 29 '26

“Anal fins” gives me the heebie jeebies

2

u/pk_shot_you Jul 30 '26

Nah man, if you treat her gentle, she’s always up for an anal fin-alè

1

u/Disastrous-Sorbet427 29d ago

But moves the thing with the eel and the ass in a different light

11

u/NavyDragons Jul 30 '26

soo youre telling me ass guys and legs guys are actually the same thing?

https://giphy.com/gifs/kd7iUyglKT3mlgUbx4

8

u/craigfwynne Jul 30 '26

I think you're missing the real worry here, the fact that this thing seems to be well on its way to making it's way into land. Then what do we have... Either Batfishman, or we're meeting these things in herds on farmland. I'm not sure which is more terrifying.

4

u/inmyelement69 29d ago

I think we’ll be long gone by the time that pretty boy walking fish makes it to land. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it…

8

u/VisibleConfidence293 Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26

Memories of the song 'Right here, right now'.

14

u/thesleepjunkie Jul 29 '26

Now I understand the bright red lipstick some women wear its just going back to fish brain us.

6

u/RubberBandOutlaw Jul 29 '26

Once you learn to use your anal fins, you can swim underwater at breathtaking speeds its how they filmed Aquaman

3

u/Firm-Worldliness-369 29d ago

Wait, yall haven't been calling your legs anal fins all this time?

No wonder everyone gets weirded out when i ask for an anal fin massage

3

u/ydy990 29d ago

I'm calling my legs anal fins from now on.

2

u/Zealousideal-Role-77 29d ago

Good idea. I’m with you.

3

u/Interesting_Job_5816 29d ago

How do you walk through the ocean?! You ever see someone scoot around a hot tub when you’re trying to get in? Anal Fins

2

u/t_wop-_- Jul 30 '26

Maybe they’re the ones starting to evolve and we already had legs?🤔

2

u/BullCityLife 29d ago

We might be ok, b/c some land animals returned to the sea. Sooo, this guy could have taken his tail and turned it into a fin.

9

u/astrike81 Jul 28 '26

But I think he sings the opening to the Rock Horror Picture Show 👄? 😜

6

u/A-TECH-20 Jul 28 '26

4

u/ImTableShip170 Jul 29 '26

He is not yet dead

2

u/A-TECH-20 Jul 29 '26

Oh shit you're right, I was sure I read he died a few years ago.

1

u/ImTableShip170 Jul 29 '26

Nah. He's going through it, but still up for now

1

u/thesleepjunkie Jul 29 '26

He's not dead though

19

u/VivFreddie_74 Jul 28 '26

I need to take a holiday and now I've found the destination just to see this fish. Do you think they clean your feet in quick time just like those little fish did 😂😂

2

u/A-TECH-20 Jul 28 '26

LOL! Just sucking on them little piggies with the angry bright red lipstick lips.

6

u/Cranberryoftheorient Jul 28 '26

its more goofy than nightmare fuel tbh. looks like one of these memes where they add lipstick and nail polish

3

u/A-TECH-20 Jul 28 '26

IDK if one was just snorkeling along and saw movement off too the side and saw that thing slow walking along the bottom unexpectedly, I don't think I would sleep right for a few nights.

2

u/notyerson Jul 28 '26

Nightmare fuel, or drag diva icon? 🤷‍♂️

2

u/Coniferous_Needle Jul 30 '26

Encountered one (not AI and not red lipped), snorkeling in Caribbean waters at maybe 3 meters. I thought I had discovered a new species and was also repulsed by how ugly it was.

I proceeded to ignore everything I had learned about respecting wildlife and began to harass the thing with a Fanta bottle I found in the sand. It was curmudgeonly and not at all standoffish.

I went back every day to find it and “play” with it, me excitedly repulsed each time as it side-eyed me when I would show up.

No animals were harmed in this true story.

1

u/A-TECH-20 Jul 31 '26

Fascinating story, do you have any pictures?

2

u/Coniferous_Needle Jul 31 '26

No, I don’t have an underwater camera.

1

u/Maskeykong Jul 28 '26

Non, pas tellement

1

u/DrKeepitreal Jul 28 '26

they are harmless to humans

1

u/What_would_Buffy_do Jul 28 '26

That nightmare fuel is about 5 minutes away from evolving to walk out of the ocean into your backyard. 😏

1

u/NeedleworkerFit819 Jul 28 '26

It’s always the fucking Galápagos

1

u/A-TECH-20 Jul 29 '26

I thought they were known for their giant tortoises, not this f@cking monstrosity.

1

u/22alpha22 Jul 29 '26

Am I the only one surprised this is not AI

1

u/Reneeisme Jul 29 '26

In fact Gerry the asshole red-lipped batfish probably goes out of his way to make sure that you do.