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From an aquarium in Bangkok, Thailand, comes this photo of a most unusual creature, or creatures — Siamese-twin tilapia. The two fish are joined at the stomach and apparently healthy. Aquarium officials say the bigger fish protects the smaller one from harm, while the little guy scopes out the bottom looking for food.

While people find Siamese twins fascinating, these unusual animals aren't really all that rare. The occurrence of the phenomenon is well documented in all vertebrate groups, and the first case among fish was reported way back in 1754. Conjoined twins are common in both farmed and wild fish stocks, but usually die after just a few hours or days. Very few survive into adulthood like these 8-month-old tilapia.

Some do live, however, despite their obvious handicaps. For example, a few months ago, another photo of a Siamese fish made the rounds on the Internet. This one showed conjoined northern pike that reportedly were caught in a river in the upper Midwest. There was some debate whether or not the fish was real, but most experts agree it probably was. This toothy critter was really weird, with two bodies fused to a single head with a double-wide mouth.

Interestingly, scientists report it is now possible to artificially increase the number of Siamese twins produced in a batch of fish eggs by "heat-shocking" the eggs for three to four minutes just after they have been fertilized. When this is done, the twinning rate increases three to four times over that of unshocked eggs.

Could scientists be on the verge of creating Siamese fish we could stock in our fishing waters? It's certainly within the realm of possibility, and one has to imagine how different fishing would be if such mutants were swimming in numbers in our lakes and streams.

Think of the fight you would enjoy if you hooked a twin-tailed smallmouth bass or tarpon. Imagine catching just four or five catfish and having enough fillets to feed all your friends and family at your next fish fry. Try to picture how much easier it would be catching fish with two hungry mouths instead of just one.

We would, of course, have to answer one question on the minds of every ethical angler: Would the game warden count this as one fish or two?