How fascinating would it be to spot a fish resembling bearded Jesus Christ in a lake?
Helen Barlow, a 55-year old lady from Greater Manchester, while visiting a garden center spotted a koi carp 'Carl' and clicked photos of the fish to send to her 4-year-old grandson. However, when she reached home, Helen spotted something unusual in the photo.
Helen posted the photo online, seeking reactions and comments from the people on social media, asking them to help her with recognizing the fish's face.
People commented that the markings on the fish resembled Jesus and dubbed the fish as 'son of cod'. There were again people who suggested that the face resembled Donald Trump or Spanish football coach Rafael Benitez.
The picture has gone viral on social media and is being dubbed as 'Father, Son and holy fillet'. The effect has been such that manager of Notcutts garden center in Ashton-under-Lyne has started offering 'poisson of the Christ' for selfies. People are now visiting the place to click selfies with the fish.
Helen said that she freaked out first. She visited the garden center and noticed the fish and decided to click its photo for her grandson, for this would make him happy.
"I wasn't really paying any attention to the picture at first, it was only later on when I looked at it and realised it had a face," Helen told Mirror.co.uk.
Since people regularly feed them the fish came over when they saw Helen and expected her to feed them. She clicked the picture of the carp looking up at her. Helen claims, the face of the nearest carp to be creepy.
After Helen shared the photo on social media, by dubbing it as, 'Father, Son and holy fillet', people started calling the fish 'creepy'.
"Some people are saying they are haunted fish. I would say 'come on now,' Helen further added.
Helen claims to be open-minded and thinks it to be a trick of the light. She doesn't believe the picture or the fish to be paranormal. Helen believes that since koi carp have markings on their faces, it makes them look unusual.
."Maybe it's just the angle I took the picture or the light, but I don't know. I just think it's funny how much it looks like a person. The more you look at it, the more you see it," Helen added.
Helen, who is a retired childminder, admitted that she had suffered from ichthyophobia, a fear of fish in childhood. She claims fishes to be scary, since in childhood, while she kept fishes in tanks, they would often jump out of the tank and end up on the floor.
"Carl is a huge fish – he is definitely not the kind I would want in my garden. Someone told me it looked like Tommy Cooper. I wouldn't like to say it looks like anyone I know.I can see Tommy Cooper, Rafael Benitez, and Donald Trump when I look closely but I wouldn't say he looks like Jesus though myself," Helen added.
Helen has decided not to show the picture to her grandson as that might scare him.
"This customer photo has created a bit of a splash and we think it's 'fin-tastic' that Carl the Koi Carp is having his five minutes of fame. We hope that his new-found celebrity status doesn't go to his head!" said Kath Mitchell, center Manager at Notcutts Ashton Park.
