Fellow adventurers and curiosity-seekers, I have a piece of general advice for you here:

If a child offers to show you something cool, say "yes". You see, children are often the keepers of amazing and curious things.

Example: a young fisherman recently offered to show me something so exotic that he wasn't even sure what to call it. He motioned me over to a shallow pool in the sand and pointed, I thought, to a floating piece of a mangrove tree. "Oh cool," I said, feigning interest. "It's like a sea bean." (Like the millionth of those I've seen today, I thought.)

"Noo," he said with a tiny hint of impatience. "That!" He thrust his finger emphatically toward a small blob of detritus.

I squinted at the blob and realized that it was not drifting but actually swimming -- although through some invisible mechanism. What on earth...?

Clearly I had not given this kid enough credit with my sea bean mistake. This critter looked like a tiny, self-propelled ball of algae. It was two of my favorite things; weird and a mystery.

The boy was then joined by the adults in his clan, including Duncan, from Ontario. Duncan and the boy helped me get a better look at the mystery blob, which I finally surmised was some sort of collapsed-looking fish. I promised Duncan and the boy that I would post about the creature on my blog once I had learned more about what it was and selected the best photos.

So, here it is -- the full report. I think Duncan-From-Ontario and Young-Relative-Of-Duncan found a baby burrfish.

It seems that all of our observations of this tragic-faced little fish blob match with the striped burrfish ID. The strange, almost uncoordinated swimming style, the "invisible" fins, the blobby body, the tiny yellow projections... It all looks like burrfish to me!

Facts About Burrfish

A type of pufferfish
Fins are mostly clear
Swims using fins rather than through typical fish motion
Range includes Gulf of Mexico south to coast of Brazil and north to the coast of Maine
Can grow up to 10 inches in length
Common but still encountered much less often than "sea beans"

I ran in to Duncan on the beach one night and told him what I had learned so far about the fish. I mentioned that I planned on doing more research. He urged me not to go to too much trouble learning about it.

I smiled and said, "Ah, I enjoy it -- I'm pretty curious, after all." As I walked away, I chuckled to myself, "Actually it's kind of what I do."

Thanks:
A big thank you to Duncan and his young counterpart for taking the time to show me their amazing little discovery. Stay curious, guys!

Note:
The baby burrfish was released back into the ocean shortly after these photos were snapped.

Sources:
Learn more about burrfish through Encyclopedia of Life, IUCN Red List of Threatened Species or visit one at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.