Do you spot a covert fish hiding in a Grand Teton lake? It’s stumping lots of people

In Grand Teton National Park, a little fish in a big pond (or in this case a lake) put its camouflage skills to the test.

Park officials shared a photo Monday of the rocky bottom of a lake. The catch is, there’s a fish there.

“Today’s photo shows one of our experts at camouflage who was found along the shoreline of Jackson Lake,” Grand Teton National Park officials said. “Can you spot this little critter?”

Dozens of people took the challenge. Some said the fish looks like a rock. Others said it looks like the fish is almost taunting the viewer.

“Almost looks as if sticking a tongue out at us,” one commenter said.

Park officials gave guessers a few hours to find it, but it turns out the little fish was hiding under a big rock.

“You might have missed today’s camouflage megastar, the sculpin,” park officials said. “Notice the wide head and flattened body, which makes the perfect shape for blending in on rocky bottomed waters.”

Paiute sculpin and mottled sculpin are two of the 13 native fish species found at Grand Teton National Park, according to the National Park Service. Sculpins eat smaller fish and insects, but large fish such as cutthroat trout will eat them, Grand Teton officials said.

“No wonder they are so good at hiding,” officials said.

This story was originally published August 31, 2020 at 4:12 PM with the headline "Do you spot a covert fish hiding in a Grand Teton lake? It’s stumping lots of people."