The Oar Fish

[güttsfükk]

Oarfish are large, greatly elongated, pelagic Lampriform fish comprising the small family Regalecidae. Found in all temperate to tropical oceans yet rarely seen, the oarfish family contains four species in two genera. One of these, the king of herrings (Regalecus glesne), is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest bony fish alive, at up to 11 metres (36 ft) in length.

The common name oarfish is presumably in reference to either their highly compressed and elongated bodies, or to the former (but now discredited) belief that the fish "row" themselves through the water with their pelvic fins. The family name Regalecidae is derived from the Latin regalis, meaning "royal". The occasional beachings of oarfish after storms, and their habit of lingering at the surface when sick or dying, make oarfish a probable source of many sea serpent tales.

Although the larger species are considered game fish and are (to a minor extent) fished commercially, oarfish are rarely caught alive; their flesh is not well regarded due to its gelatinous consistency.

[chris]

18 feet, wtf

[güttsfükk]

i've got a newspaper clipping in storage i'll have to try scan too

[güttsfükk]

some more pix

[Eskeleton]

[kellyhound]

weird fish but video not found

[güttsfükk]

Originally Posted by kellyhound

weird fish but video not found

I added a new video

[tara2]

there's probably not many of them left they should put it back> does anyone know how to spell many or meny?

[Blewvane]

Aaargh! Seamonsters. Kill it, KILL IT, oh they did.

[vnathan]

By Louise Nordstrom

STOCKHOLM - First he thought it was a piece of plastic floating near the shoreline. When he got closer, 73-year-old Kurt Ove Eriksson realized the 12-foot serpent-like object was a rare creature from the depths of the ocean.

Marine biologists later determined Eriksson had found a Giant Oarfish — the world's largest bony fish — last seen in Swedish waters about 130 years ago.

"It was very long and shiny," Eriksson told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "It also had whiskers, even though it looked like they had been broken off. And a strange light-pink dorsal fin."

A retired engineer and avid fisherman, Eriksson made the unusual discovery Saturday on his way to his boathouse in Bovallstrand, on Sweden's west coast.

"I've been fishing around here since 1957 and I've never seen anything like it," he said. "But I've seen enough fish to know that it was a deep-water fish."

Eriksson handed over the dead fish to The House of the Sea, an aquarium in the nearby town of Lysekil, where marine expert Roger Jansson said it's being kept pending a decision on what to do with it.

Jansson said the Giant Oarfish can grow up to 36 feet, and is believed to live in deep waters. He said the last recorded discovery in Sweden was in 1879.

Sightings of the fish are believed to have inspired tales of sea serpents.

© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.