A bizarre fish with a human-like mouth and eyes looked devastated after it was caught in Thailand.

The strange creature - with a distraught look of shock and surprise - was hauled ashore by fisherman Prasert Shookul, 33, in Krabi province on October 26.

The unknown fish had huge lips and googly eyes that the fisherman said "looked like an ugly, frowning person". Its lips were also stretched widely like it was upset and about to cry after being caught.

Prasert said the bizarre fish was unusually short and had no teeth. It was caught by setting up a blue crab trap net near a remote uninhabited island in the Andaman Sea.

The shocked fisherman said he nearly threw the net back to the ocean when he dragged the fish into his boat and saw it staring back at him.

He said: "I almost threw everything back into the water when I saw the scary fish. It was looking at me and it had a face like an ugly, frowning human.

''The fish's body was shorter than it should have been and it had big lips but no teeth.

"Nobody knew what this creature was in our village, including the elders. I did not dare to cook it for myself or anybody else. It was so weird."

Prasert found the fish was 2.7 kilos in weight and 42 cms long. It had died by the time he reached the shore.

Staff from the local marine centre went to the man's house after reports of a strange creature reached their office.

They said it resembled a Pollicaris fish, which buries its body and head in the sand while keeping its wide mouth open to catch smaller fish and invertebrates that come near.

The fisherman turned over the fish to the wildlife centre afterwards because he believed it could bring him bad luck.