Help identifying marine creature

[canetoad]

Found dead, washed in at Harmers Haven, Vic, Au.
Approx. 25cm diameter (10 in.)
Not badly decayed, so hasn't been kicking around for weeks.
Skin - slightly bristly feeling but not hard or spiky.
The 'Structure', 'body' in the middle felt cartiliginous, not bony
Rest of skin was soft, flabby

My first thought was a ray on some kind but unlikely. Other opinion is a puffer fish that died while inflated. I'd love to hear from anyone who knows who and what this little fella is.

[Thyla]

1. I'm going with a Porcupine Fish of some sort

You can see the spikes when zoomed in and the weird thing in the mouth is likely the swim bladder which stays inflated while the rest of the fish decomposes which it seems to be doing.

The swim bladder of these fish don't really decompose quickly and can occasionally be found washed up.

Just a guess.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-05/porcupine-fish-swim-bladder-find-sunshine-coast/8873018

[canetoad]

2. I've seen many things that resemble the pic

In the ABC article, however, that is not what we have here.

There is nothing in the mouth - the top teeth are like - teeth! The bottom pink things are like a bony plate. I've found various swim bladders and yep, they are kinda hard and balloon like.

Thanks for the contribution, but I don't think that is the answer.

[torius]

3. Maybe a mola mola

they are weird but cool-looking. They float on their sides.

[canetoad]

4. Didn't know the name mola mola

But already looked up 'baby sunfish' and don't think that's the answer. Thanks anyway!

[LeftInTX]

5. Freaky!!!!

Sorry...
I am of no help!

[ornotna]

6. Could be some kind of puffer fish

They have similar front teeth.

[XanaDUer2]

8. Wow!

.

[GoCubsGo]

9. It's what's left of what was a puffer fish.

Possibly a dog-faced puffer.

[JHB]

10. Dog faced puffer, maybe? Or close relative?

There's over a hundred species of pufferfish.

This species is found in tropical waters from the Indian Ocean to the central islands of the Pacific Ocean, roughly equalling the Indo-Pacific, except the Red Sea.[3] It lives close to external reef slopes and lagoons from the surface to 25 m (82 ft) depth. -- Wikipedia

[BainsBane]

11. It looks deformed

like it's not typical of its species.

[Tanuki]

12. Blobfish?

?resize=480 l

[KY_EnviroGuy]

13. It's a marine Pac-Man monster that drank too much tRump Clorox virus remedy.

Or, a Don Rickles-themed ice cream bar left to melt on the beach.


KY..........

[canetoad]

14. Thanks everyone!

I'm now pretty sure it's some kind of puffer fish.

But in researching pictures of puffer fish, look what I found:
Putting Donald Trump’s Mouth On Pufferfish
https://www.boredpanda.com/trump-puffer-fish-mouth-photoshop/

Ain't the internet great.