The Alberta government says it is willing to examine two deformed fish that a northern Alberta aboriginal band says were caught in Lake Athabasca this week.
Pictures of the two fish, a sucker and a northern pike, were distributed by the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Friday.
The pike appears to have a red lesion running down its back and more lesions on its belly, while the sucker is missing a lot of its scales.
Chief Allan Adam says the problems aren't natural, but Dave Ealey with Alberta Environment says it's possible they are.
Ealey says there are a number of different conditions that can cause abnormalities in fish, from parasites to oxygen depletion to injury.
There have been fish tales from the oilsands region before.
In 2008, a goldeye was caught on Lake Athabasca that appeared in a photo to have two mouths.
A University of Alberta biologist eventually determined that the second jaw was actually the fish's tongue that was pulled through its mouth by contracting ligaments during death.