14 DAY TRIAL // The carcass of an odd-looking ocean creature showed up on a beach on California's South Catalina Island just a few days ago, on Monday.
The creature, shown in the photos accompanying this article, looked very much like a snake of sorts. Still, wildlife experts identified it as an oarfish.
Although they populate virtually all of our planet's oceans and can be found both in tropical and in temperate waters, it's not often that oarfish make public appearances.
Wildlife researchers say that they usually swim at depths of about 1,000 to 3,000 feet (300 to 900 meters) and most of the time prefer to keep to themselves.
Hence the fact that, when one such ocean dweller showed up on South Catalina Island this past Monday, plenty of folks gathered around to catch a glimpse of it.
“I’ve lived on the island for over 20 years and I’m on the water all the time, and I’ve never seen one,” said Annie MacAulay of Mountain and Sea Adventures, as cited by DM.
The fish was discovered quite by chance
Reports say that it was a local harbor patrolman who found the fish while on the job. The man reportedly noticed the carcass in the shallow water close to shore and got help from a group of beachgoers pulling it on land.
Having arrived at the beach to have a look at the rare fish themselves, wildlife researchers measured it and found it to be an astounding 17 feet (approximately 5 meters) long.
Unfortunately, the carcass wasn't exactly in good shape. On the contrary, it appears that, before the harbor patrolman chanced to notice it, seagulls found it and took a few bites out of it.
Once removed from the beach, the oarfish was taken to the California State University, where a team of researchers will examine and autopsy it in an attempt to better understand the species.
Although an impressive sight, this oarfish found on South Catalina Island earlier this week was probably merely a youngster. Thus, adult specimens are usually twice as big.
There's even talk of oarfish measuring as much as 50 feet (15 meters) in length.
