The Opium-Pipe Fish is a creature which originated with the North American pioneer tradition of playing practical jokes on new immigrants.
Description[]
An unusual looking fish with a long, thin body reminiscent of that of a pike, the Opium-Pipe Fish's most distinctive feature is an elongated snout with a single pipe-like nostril which it presumable uses to indulge in its favourite pastime.
Sighted in Washington’s Puget Sound, and more specifically Smith Cove, shoals of Opium-Pipe Fish are known to follow ships docking in the cove from the Far East. There, they splash about in eager anticipation of customs officials getting too close to a smuggler. Then, when the smugglers throw their opiates over the side to evade incarceration, the fish scoop up their prize. The Opium-Pipes live almost solely on opium, and if hurried simply eat its dinner there and then; however, if the fish has sufficient time then it will hold the narcotic in its mouth while it finds a nearby sunny beach to smoke it’s catch in a drug-induced haze.
Further reading[]
"The Opium-Pipe Fish" from Marvelous Critters of Puget Sound (April 1913) by The Seattle Star