Trump-like fish species goes viral - but that's not the full story

It was almost a decade ago that a five-year-old golden pheasant named Little Red went viral for having a quiff similar to that of US president Donald Trump.

And now, another animal is doing the rounds on social media for its striking resemblance to the Republican - but all is not as it seems…

On Friday (3 April), hacker group Anonymous took to X/Twitter to share a graphic claiming a “new fish species” had been “found in Venezuela”, with the fish shown sporting spiky blonde hair, and therefore sparking comparisons to the convicted felon.

“F***”, Anonymous simply posted.

And that account was not the only one, as another admitted they “scrolled too fast and thought this was Donald Trump”:

“Did they name it Trumpfish,” asked podcaster Carl Zha:

One account quipped: “At least he can cross the Strait of Hormuz”:

“Everybody can see it right? It’s not just my trauma. We can all SEE it, right,” tweeted another:

And another remarked that it “looks like a sitting President in the West”:

However, while the fish does look familiar, as a Community Note under Anonymous’ tweet notes, it has actually been generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

Or should that be arti-fish-ial intelligence?

Sorry.

Back in May last year, the TikTok account @flippers_peepers shared a video of the fish with the caption: “I think I know who else goes to her hairdresser.

“Stories from the depths of a sea that exists only in my imagination.”

The creator labelled the video as ‘AI-generated’ and included #AI as a hashtag.

Why not read…?

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