Project 971 Щука-Б Submarine Mysteries

NATO's reporting name (the unclassified code name) for Russia's Pike class subs is Akula (shark). As we know, Pike and Shark are very different species of fish.
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QUESTION: Why does NATO select nonconforming code names?

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ANSWER: NATO reporting names are intended to provide unambiguous and easily understood English language words in a consistent manner. The practice is necessary because indigenous names may not be known when reporting is first required, or the actual name could be easily confused with existing codes.

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QUESTION: Besides collision and sinking, what are two very ominous incidents for submarine crews?

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ANSWER: Entrapment, of course, and getting swept overboard at sea.

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Finally, M.E. noticed the artifact in the cartoon submission received from Juan Caruso this past Friday. Could not be checked at the time, but assumed Caruso had photo shopped the original for some crazy reason. Now that he is back from Peurto Rico, he claims the figure was there when he got the photo from Wikipedia. Sure enough, it is still there. Caruso had thought it was a shirtless crewmember (Crazy Ivan?) performing an emergency maintenance task at sea, relieving himself because the heads were O.O.C., taking a sea bath like original submariners used to do it, or receiving some rare form of corporal punishment.

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QUESTION: What is the strange object circled above? (Open the photo above in a new window for an enlarged view)

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Submarines are always silent and strange.