American Army at Mekong River

Perhaps the most bizarre marine animal claimed to exist in the Mekong involves the recent story of the Naga. Around the year 2000 a photograph began to appear widely in the region showing a huge fish being held by a group of soldiers. It was titled “Queen of Nagas seized by American Army at Mekong River, Laos Military Base on June 27, 1973 with the length of 7.80 meters. “The Naga, an underwear serpent of Hindu and Buddhist mythology, has long been associated with the Mekong, and local communities in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia still believe that is lives in caves under the river.
The appearance of this photograph confirmed those beliefs for many. However, it soon proved to be a hoax and is in fact of an Oarfish Regalecus glesne, the particular animal was found by US soldiers on a beach near a military base in south California in 1996 – nowhere near the Mekong – and is now preserved at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography