Very Weird Creature

A reader has sent this photo with no explanation other than it was forwarded to him. Is it real or a clever photo hoax? If it's a real creature, can anyone out there identify it? I've never seen anything like it. If it is a hoax, which is quite possible, it's a very good one. Click here for an enlargement.
UPDATE: CREATURE IDENTIFIED!
Amazingly, this is a real creature. Reader Russell Bynum has directed us to a website with photographs of several very strange deep-sea creatures, including this one – a Longnosed Chimera, "the bald molerat of the piscine world."