Villagers at the Manait area in Baracay, Albay from the Philippines were shocked when an ultrasound scan appeared to support a 17-year-old’s claim that she had gotten pregnant by a fish and that she was carrying a fish baby.

The young woman, Kimberly Robles, first noticed that something was not right in June 2017 when she felt pain in her stomach. Over the many months that followed, Robles’ stomach kept growing and growing and now resembles a heavily pregnant woman’s tummy.

But Robles was presumably a virgin and did not have a boyfriend. When people noticed her large stomach and asked her if she was pregnant, she would deny it. The rumours about Robles’ chastity grew so loud in their village that Robles’ father even thought she had a secret lover and confronted her.

When Robles denied this, her father brought her to take an ultrasound scan. At the hospital, the family was shocked to find what appeared to be a fish-like organism growing in Robles’ womb. The features of the fish were clear in the ultrasound and one image even seemed to show the creature’s tail.

The village soon accepted that a fish was indeed growing inside the teenager. Robles’ grandmother explained that she had gotten pregnant because she kept bathing in the sea. Another neighbour offered that Robles might have gotten pregnant when an eel perhaps swam past her while she was doing her laundry.

The mystery, however, same to an end. Doctors the girl visited to get a second opinion found that it wasn’t a fish growing inside the teenager, but a cyst.