Is this a real-life Demogorgon? ‘Massive’ blood-sucking creature 'like the Stranger Things monster' found
The creature with it's mouth full of swirling teeth reminded people of a sci-fi monster
IT evokes the monstrous Demogorgon seen in TV’s Stranger Things, but this blood-sucking “vampire fish” is all too real.
Jason Moore, 47, found the bizarre creature in the River Exe in Devon while looking for a spot to catch chub, and fished it out for a closer look.
He said: “I was looking for rocks and snags and tree overhangs and stuff where the chub live, just trying to work out where I was going to go fishing next.
“It was in the water, on the water's edge. I was sort of like ‘wow, that's amazing, look at the size of that! Let's fish it out and have a look.’
“It's long and eel-like, and its mouth is – I don’t know how to describe it really – a bit like a leech I suppose, but much, much bigger.
“It's got rows and rows and rows of teeth, that almost look like the Demogorgon from Stranger Things.
“It looks quite horrifying.”
Mr Moore had found a lamprey – and just like the Demogorgon, they’ve got a lust for blood.
In fact, their behaviour of drinking from their prey has earned them the nickname “vampire fish”.
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For Jason, it was the biggest he’d ever seen.
He said: “I've seen lampreys before and they're not uncommon here but I've never seen one that big ever in my life.
“It must have been somewhere between 80cm and a metre long.
“It was massive. Other ones I've seen have been about 10 to 15cm in length.”
Impressed by the specimen, Mr Moore shared photos on a Facebook page for naturalists.
One man responded that he’d been bitten by one, and that the wound was still tormenting him nine years later.
Others compared it to the terrifying sandworms depicted in the Dune films, based on Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novels.
One person wrote: “No doubt the inspiration for many a sci-fi monster, including the sand worms of Dune.”
Another wrote: “That's where the producers got the idea for the sandworm’s mouth.”
It was also called “the stuff of nightmares”, a “living dinosaur”, and “like something from a horror film”.
Jason, from Exeter, said: “I think most people are a bit shocked that that type of thing swims in our rivers really.
“But I wouldn't want anybody to be scared or horrified, or really think about not going in the rivers, not kayaking, or avoiding a river for recreation just because that's in there.”
The lamprey was dead when Mr Moore spotted it, so after a couple of photos, he returned it to the water to let nature take its course.
He said: “It literally died not long ago, so it’s gone up the river, I assume to spawn, and then snuffed it as they do.
“There were signs of spawning and eggs around.
“I think it’s a life-cycle thing.”