TUKTOYAKTUK - What is the black four-horned beast, which lives beneath the surface of Husky Lakes?

It's the mysterious Sculpin fish, which is one of nature's strangest and perhaps ugliest animals.

Tuktoyaktuk town councillor Merven Gruben said he caught one last May, while fishing through a hole in the ice.

While many people in Tuktoyaktuk are enjoying the fresh air and fishing this time of year, Gruben said they occasionally have the bad luck of hooking a sculpin.

By most accounts, you'd be better off finding an old boot.

"They are too thorny," Gruben said, adding the fish are not eaten and aren't much to look at either.

"Some old-time people eat the tails, but most people wouldn't feed it to their dog because it would get stuck in their throat," he said.

While the sculpin might seem weird, it does have some amazing qualities.

For instance, certain species of sculpin can live for several hours outside of water if kept moist.

Fisheries biologist Nathan Millar, of the Gwich'in Renewable Resource Board in Inuvik, said the fish are kind of mysterious.

In a 2003 report by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, for instance, the sculpin was listed as "data deficient."

One more deficiency to saddle on this poor creature, along with lack of good looks and charm.

Millar added there are several different species of sculpin, which feed at the bottom of salt and fresh water.

Of course, being ugly might have advantages.

While some colourful and delicious fish such as Arctic Char are declining across the NWT, it appears the sculpin population is safe.

As Gruben said, nobody wants a sculpin.

"I ended up throwing it back into the hole," he said.