Unnerving footage of a carp with distinctly human-like facial features has recently emerged on social media.

A strange fish with a human-like face was discovered swimming in a pond in China.

According to the Daily Mail, the fish was discovered in Miao Village in the Chinese city of Kumming.

This is one strange looking fish. Image Credit: Weibo

Footage showing it splashing about the pond’s edge was posted to Weibo, a Chinese social media network, eliciting shocked reactions from viewers all around the world.

While it appears that the fish, which has been widely reported to be a carp, has a human face, this is actually due to the creature’s markings.

According to Snopes, a reputable fact-checking website, the video was first posted on the Chinese version of TikTok.

While the video’s status is listed as ‘Unproven’ on their website, Snopes stated that it appears to be real.

A video of a fish with peculiar markings swimming in a pond in China has gone viral. Source: In The Know.

“Based on what we’ve found about similar sightings, however, it seems likely that this is a genuine video of a fish with markings on its head that resemble a “human face” when viewed from a certain angle,” Snopes said.

Snopes further speculated that this fish was similar to one seen in a pond outside a shrine in Japan in April of this year.

The fish spotted in April also had the human face-like markings

“That moment when you realise that even a carp is more good looking than you,” someone said on Reddit, where the latest video was reposted.

Another user stated that human-faced fish are a part of “western mythology,” and linked to a sketch from Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life that depicts fish with human faces.