A fish that some people claim bears the face of a bearded Jesus has a stream of fans lining up for selfies.
Helen Barlow was visiting a garden centre when she noticed koi carp ‘Carl’ and snapped some photos to send to her four-year-old grandson Harry.
But when she got home the 55-year-old saw something unusual in Carl’s markings.
After posting the picture online, Helen, from Greater Manchester, has been inundated with people recognising the fish’s face.
Many said the markings resembled Jesus and dubbed the fish the ‘son of cod’.
While others insist the face is the spitting image of Donald Trump or Spanish football coach Rafael Benitez.
The picture – dubbed the ‘Father, Son and holy fillet’ – has caused such a storm that the manager of Notcutts garden centre in Ashton-under-Lyne has started offering up the ‘poisson of the Christ’ for selfies.
Mum-of-three Helen said: “It’s a bit freaky. I was just visiting the garden centre for a few bits when I noticed the fish and thought my grandson would enjoy seeing the fish as they are quite big.
“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.
“I think people are regularly feeding them so when the fish saw me they came over as if they expected me to have food, which is how I got the picture of the carp looking right up at me.
“I could definitely see a few faces on the fish in there but the face on the one nearest the camera is just creepy.”
After Helen shared the photo, nicknamed the ‘Father, Son and holy fillet’, online many described the fish as ‘creepy’.
Helen added: “Some people are saying they are haunted fish. I would say ‘come on now’.
“You never know, I am open minded, but I think this is just a trick of the light. It would take more than that to prove the paranormal to me.
“But there were lots of sensible suggestions [of how the fish had a human face] too. Koi carp are known for having unusual markings on them that do sometimes look like faces.
“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.”
The retired childminder admitted she has suffered from ichthyophobia, a fear of fish, since she was a little girl.
Helen, who claimed she could see Carl’s resemblance to Donald Trump but not Jesus, said:
“I am not a lover of fish as it is.
“They are a bit scary. I have felt that from when I was little and we used to keep fish. 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.
“After spotting the face on the fish I have not shown the picture to my grandson. You have to be careful with a four-year-old as I don’t want anything like that playing on his mind.”
From the UK Mirror