Ever heard of an oarfish? It's huge, ornate, and magnificent, and very strange looking. Here is an incredible story of an oarfish beaching itself and being collected (after failed rescue attempts).
Oarfish are reputed to be the longest bony fish in the sea at well over 30 feet. They're rare, perhaps found mostly in deep water, but very occasionally seen on shore or in shallow water. They are ribbon shaped and swim by undulating their dorsal fins. This individual beached itself in Mexico, accompanied by another oarfish that eventually swam away.
Note to Jason at cephalopodcast.com, Gorton's law was invoked in the second response to the posting of this story, in record time for such a magnificent animal.
Hat tip: Brand Mongeau Tweet
5 comments:
Neato.
When alive, usually found oriented vertically in the water column: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbeiVOFqQsc
Here's a dying oarfish oriented horizontally: http://web.mac.com/alemus/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html
Beautiful... I'd love to dive with one of those beasties.
When you look at the other photographs in the link, you will see two fish swimming together on the surface. One of them has a crest and the other doesn't. Could that be a mating pair? What i find so fascinating is that these two creatures accompanied one another to their final destination. There can be no doubt that the one fish beached himself deliberately.
There must be some form of communication between the two for them to behave in such a deliberate and concerted way....
Absolutely fascinating~
I don't know that post #2 should be considered "record time" for bloody decks. That's one of the boards where the feds go to monitor shark take since all the guys post detailed data on their female thrashers.
What is the deal with the headdress? Great find mark!
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