Tran Van Hanh from Vinh City, in the central province of Nghe An, last Wednesday evening caught a 5 kg, 1 m-long fish with a head like an alligator.

Hanh was fishing at Goong lake in the city’s Nguyen Tat Thanh park. When he felt a strong movement on his line, Hanh lifted the rod and found the strange-looking fish.

Hanh said it took him and a friend 30 minutes to drag the fish ashore. Hundreds of curious people surrounded the men and checked out the strange fish they had never seen before.

According to some experts, the fish is a spotted gar, a primitive freshwater fish of the family Lepisosteidae which is native to North America.

It has a profusion of dark spots on the body, head and fins, and an elongated mouth with many teeth used to eat crustaceans and other fish.

Hanh later put the fish into a big bucket to keep it alive. He said he had not thought about what to do with the fish, which might have been released into the river as a tradition of compassion.

The 1 m-long fish jhas a head like an alligator.