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The Royal BC Museum in Victoria has put on display a fish with a large head, small brain and unflattering name: a bony-eared assfish.

The deep-sea creature, about 30 centimetres long, was caught by scientists 10 years ago in Queen Charlotte Sound, off the north end of Vancouver Island.

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Formally named Acanthonus armatus, the species is known to inhabit Pacific Ocean waters, but this is the first one caught off the coast of North America, said Gavin Hanke, the museum’s curator of vertebrate zoology.

The specimen is featured in “Finding Fishes,” the first exhibition in the museum’s new Pocket Gallery. The alcove — formerly the museum’s coat check area — will showcase rarely seen items from the museum’s collections in three-month rotating displays.

Visiting the Pocket Gallery is free — no museum ticket required.

It almost looks like a glorified tadpole. It felt very gelatinous and soft when we picked it up.

As might be expected from its common name, the bony-eared assfish, which is a member of the cusk-eel family, will never win an ichthyological beauty contest.