Mystery ‘mutant’ fish has finally been caught after terrifying locals in Russia… so what the hell is it?

A MYSTERY monster fish that reportedly tried to BITE people who came too close to its lake has finally been caught.

The fearsome creature - with a strong thick tail, rows of sharp teeth and powerful jaws - had terrified locals living near Lake Krugoe in Siberia.

Some feared it was a "mutant" born after radioactive waste was dumped in the lake by a chemical factory.

And it is said to have tried to bite a number of people who had hoped for a close look at the freaky fish, according to reports in the Tomsk Oblast region.

Now the four-foot monster has finally been hooked by fishermen - and it looks even scarier on land.

Video footage shows it chomping down on a stick held out by one of the anglers as it writhes on the grass.

Viewers of the footage said it looks like a mutant cross with the head of a giant piranha and the body of cod-like fish called a burbot.

One said: "Geez, this creature looks both scary and disgusting."

Experts later ifentified it as a wolffish, a bottom-feeding predator normally found in the freezing Arctic sea.

The local fishing and hunting department said: "The mutant fish is nothing but a famous northern wolffish."

The northern wolffish is at risk of extinction and is a protected species in Canada - where Inuit fishermen know it as the "old woman fish" because of its ugly face.

Trawlermen chuck them back because their jelly-like flesh is unappetising.

In May we told how a Turkish farmer claimed to have found a mutant goat with a mouth growing inside its ear - complete with teeth and saliva.

And a cyclops goat with one eye in the middle of its head terrified villagers in India.

In March we revealed a hairless mutant pig with an "elephant's trunk" growing out of its face died two hours after birth in China.

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368