Yachts and Cars: Hold your breath! A marine science professor recently came face to face with a mythical creature straight out of a fantasy novel while snorkeling off the shores of Southern California. Behold the oarfish, an 18-foot sea monster with massive eyes.
The brave instructor, Jasmine Santana from the Catalina Island Marine Institute, needed a team of over 15 strong helpers to pull the behemoth from the sea and onto the shore. The Institute staff is now buzzing with excitement, hailing a once-in-a-lifetime discovery.
Mark Waddington, the Tole Mour’s senior captain, CIMI’s sail training ship, exclaimed, “Holy mackerel! We’ve never seen a fish this big! The last of these fish that we saw was only sound 3 feet.”
Oarfish are elusive creatures that prefer depths of over a few thousand feet, making sightings few and far between. CIMI reports that they are still largely a mystery to marine scientists.
The oarfish was found to have died from natural causes, and tissue samples along with video footage have been sent to biologists at UC Santa Barbara for further study. MORE
Welp, there it is…another victim of global warming!!!
They say one of the names is King of the Herring. WRONG! “King of the Salmon” is correct. I’ve seen several of these in the past as bycatch in the trawl fishing industry. And, yes I’m a Fisheries biologist, who has monitored bycatch in targeted fisheries for several decades.
“tissue samples have been sent…”
Explain how a tissue sample from an 18-foot creature would be different from the same species of “only ‘sound’ 3 feet.”
Does it smell like Gwyneth’s… candle?
If you take one oarfish out of the water, you will eventually end up going in circles….
Clot shot?
Michelle Obama’s dick?
I thought Alex Jones claimed to have spotted that in Big Mikes pants.
@Sarthurk
Pacific only, or are you also familiar with the North Atlantic? I used to be a trawlerman off the New England coast. That was back in the 80s, and I’d like to know what has changed; what species are now endangered, recovered, gone altogether?
One of my favorite fish! They eat only plankton and usually float to shallow waters to die, unfortunately. That’s really the only way we can see them or see what remains of them on shore. Most specimens lose part of their tail during the death process. Spectacular looking fish.