A giant oarfish was found on the coast of Southern California this week.
A group of snorkelers found an 18-foot long, serpent-like oarfish after a marine science instructor spotted it. Jasmine Santana of the Catalina Island Marine Institute had 15 helped carry out the giant creature on Sunday. The creature is a rare find due to its massive size.
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"We've never seen a fish this big," Mark Waddington, senior captain of the Tole Mour, CIMI's sail training ship told the Associated Press. "The last oarfish we saw was three feet long."
Oarfish are very rare to find as they tend to five more than 3,000 feet deep. The species has not been studied much since they are so hard to come by.
This fish that was found was not alive. It seems to have died of natural causes. The institute sent tissue samples and video to the University of California, Santa Barbara. To be studied by biologists.
Santana says she saw the silver fish shimmering about 30 feet below while the group was on a staff trip in Toyon Bay at Santa Catalina Island. They were about 24 miles off the mainland.
"She said, 'I have to drag this thing out of here or nobody will believe me,"' Waddington said.
Santana dragged the body of the fish by the tail for about 75 feet before her staff waded in and helped her drag it the rest of the way to shore.
They put the body of the fish on display for 5th, 6th, and 7th grade students studying at CIMI on Tuesday. The carcass will be buried in the sand so it can decompose. The skeleton will then be reconstituted for display, according to the Associated Press.
An Oarfish can grow up to more than 50 feet. It is the longest bondy fish in the world. Some believe that oarfish are often mistaken for the Lach Ness monster and other water monsters.
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