Queen of the Nagas

When we crossed the Thailand border into Laos, we immediately started seeing this photograph on posters and postcards in restaurants and in gift shops:

The caption usually read something like: "US Army seizes giant river fish. 1973"

When we first saw these photos, we didn't know about Nagas, but it seems very likely the local Lao population thinks that's exactly what's pictured here. I wonder what a Lao fisherman who makes offerings to the nagas and believes they protect the Mekong would make of this photo. It seems to us a fitting metaphor for one stereotype of Americans: healthy, ebullient men who unhesitatingly seize their desires, cheerfully oblivious even to the possibility of respect or deference. I have no idea what the Lao really think, but I could easily imagine regarding this photo with a mix of horror, awe, and admiration at the sheer hubris it might well represent to them.

We found one account of the actual history of the photograph at http://www.thailandroad.com/trevor/naga.html :

A 30-year-old American named Andy Z. claims to be in this photo. According to Andy, it was actually taken Sept. 19, 1996 at the Navel Special Warfare Center in Coronado, California.

"We were on our morning physical fitness run," Andy recalls, "when we came across this huge fish lying on the sand." At 23 feet in length and 4 feet in circumference, it was quite a shocking site for the Navy SEAL cadets. "We called it the AGE fish, because if you saw it underwater you would rocket to the surface, exploding your lungs, hence AGE (Arterial Gas Embolism)."

After carrying the enormous fish back to the Naval Amphibious Base the SEALs contacted scientist H.J. Walker from The University of California, San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Walker identified the fish as an oarfish (Regalecus glesne), a reclusive fish that inhabits the depths of warm tropical waters around the world. Encounters with this enormous fish are rare and not much is known of their habits. The oarfish normally stay down at extreme depths of 700ft or greater.

Walker surmised that this particular fish had wandered to the surface because it was sick or dying, and then perished as a result of a laceration from a boat propeller. Andy's recollection of the fish's condition confirms this hypothesis, and a quick examination of the original photograph supports this conclusion, as a large cleave is apparent just behind the head, and another long gash runs along the bottom of the fish for several feet. The Thai version of the photo has clearly been changed to mask these injuries.