r/FishingAustralia • u/fuzzyturtle73 • 1d ago
Albino Eel. Has anyone who fishes around Yamba/Clarence River ever seen anything like this? I’ve been trying to identify this bloody thing for nearly 10 years. 😭
When I was about 14, roughly 10 years ago, I was fishing from the mainland shore at Yamba, NSW, not far from Hickey Island.
I caught what I can only describe as some kind of albino eel/eel-like fish. It was BIG — from memory at least 800–900 mm and quite possibly around a metre long. Long eel-shaped body, no normal fish-like tail, fairly pointed snout.
It was completely white with unmistakably RED eyes. Not reddish reflections from the light — genuinely red eyes.
But the part that has driven me absolutely insane for nearly a decade was its mouth.
It had a mouth full of sharp/needle-like teeth, but at the very front of the lower jaw were two absolutely enormous white fang-like teeth. From my memory and comparing the size now, I’d estimate roughly 50–60 mm long. I’ve attached a tape-measure photo specifically to show the size I’m talking about.
And I really want to emphasise this part:
The two lower fangs angled forward/outward and protruded beyond the end of its mouth. Even when the fish closed its mouth, those teeth were still sticking out past the snout. They were NOT enclosed inside the upper jaw.
That’s why I’m struggling with common pike eel. Muraenesox bagio is probably the closest thing I’ve found in terms of its general body/head shape, and I know they’re caught around Yamba, but I cannot find a photo or description showing one with two enormous lower teeth projecting beyond the CLOSED mouth like this thing had.
Unfortunately there is no photo of the actual fish. I was 14, alone, and had just dragged an approximately metre-long, completely white, red-eyed eel-looking creature with enormous bloody fangs onto the concrete. 😂 I was PETRIFIED. I left it and my fishing gear there, ran back to camp and got an older family friend who was an experienced fisherman to come down, remove the hook and release it.
I’ve tried identifying it on and off ever since and nothing I’ve ever found properly matches it.
I know this is a nearly 10-year-old memory, so obviously I can’t claim the exact measurements are perfect. But I will never forget the features that made this animal so damn horrifying: white body, And when I say white, I mean PAPER WHITE. Not pale grey, silver, cream, translucent, white underneath with darker markings on top, or a normal fish that looked washed-out in the light. I mean paper-white from head to tail. Proper stark white, all over, with no brown, grey or black pigmentation that I could see whatsoever. Combined with its completely red eyes, it looked genuinely albino.
, pointed eel-like head/body and those enormous lower fangs protruding beyond its mouth.
I’ve now actually sent an identification enquiry to the Australian Museum because after nearly a decade I want to know what the hell I caught 😂, but their response may take 6–8 weeks.
So while I wait: has anyone who’s spent years fishing around Yamba, the Clarence River or northern NSW ever caught or seen something matching this description? And before anyone assumes this is a childhood fishing story that’s gotten bigger and scarier every time I’ve remembered it — it hasn’t. I am not exaggerating what I saw. I was there. I landed this thing and had it thrashing around on the concrete directly in front of me. It scared me so badly that the image of it is burned into my memory.
I completely understand that this happened nearly 10 years ago, and I’m not claiming I could tell you whether the fish was exactly 87 cm long or whether a tooth measured exactly 54 mm. Those measurements are estimates. But the physical features themselves are not details I’ve invented or added over the years. I remember that animal vividly
- SO, Albino pike eel with some bizarre dental abnormality? Another species entirely? Some deformed individual?
Please put me out of my misery. This damn fish has lived rent-free in my head since I was 14. 😭
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u/aussieriverwalker 1d ago
Definitely an albino variation with possible genetic or physical deformity to the jaws.
A pike eel or needlefish species like a stout longtom are not uncommon in the Clarence estuary.
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u/Successful-Bear-3683 1d ago
Albino Common pike eel would be my only guess for that area