Larva of rare, deep-water fish found on Ormond Beach

ORMOND BEACH, Fla. (FOX 13) - An Ormond Beach man found a strange-looking fish this week and reached out the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) for help.

Scientists were somewhat baffled, as well, saying the fish was actually a larval specimen of a rare, bottom-dwelling, deep-water jellynose fish.

Jaison Demmon said he found the translucent, 6-inch long fish dead in a tide pool.

FWC says the fish, in the genus Ijimaia, is the second larva of its kind found on the Atlantic coast.

The scientist who identified the fish said they could only speculate about how the larva ended up inshore.

"Eggs, larvae, and juveniles may become caught up in nearshore currents, perhaps eddies spinning off the Gulf Stream, ending up in inlets or along beaches," FWC wrote in a Facebook post about the fish.

Jellynose fish in their adult state are sometimes known as tadpole fish because of their appearance.