Zulu wrote:
That picture was on the news and it's going viral.
It really looks like a smaller shrimp that someone is holding close to the camera with the rod in the background.
You can't see what is holding the shrimp up.
Does this picture look fake to anyone else?
Zulu the Skeptic
Not faked. The mantis shrimp, which this appears to be, commonly grows to 12" or more.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis_shrimp . Not all shrimps are shrimps.
I suspect that the Vietnamese brought it in, since it's common in that part of the world, and was unknown in the Gulf of Mexico. There has been a large influx of Vietnamese in the Gulf States since the end of the Vietnam war, and many run fishing/shrimp boats, so it's not really surprising that this species has appeared in the Gulf. It's essentially a invasive species, albeit one that tastes good.