By Matthew Cobb
This film of an oarfish off Baja California just popped into my Tw*tter feed. Oarfish are generally found in the deep sea, so I suspect that this one is not very happy, but what a sight!
Rare footage of live oarfish
April 7, 2014 • 3:12 pm
wow
Is that hair on his/her head?
Nope – fancy fins!
Part of the dorsal fin. The first dozen or so rays of the dorsal fin, of which there are about 400(!), are specialized to form that fancy head gear.
My friend had a betta fish once & her mother wanted to trim its fins. We had to explain in horror that that was not hair but skin!!
As my son and or daughter would say, sometimes in unison, “O-M-G!”
I know – poor fish! It would be like trimming your fingers!
It looks very confused poor thing.
Very cool video. I would have assumed it was in shallow water because it was dying, but it looked to be moving well.
I suspect your original assumption was correct. Something is seriously wrong.
Arrrg it be a sea serpent beastie!
Cecil, the seasick sea serpent.
Likely one component of the Rainbow Serpent also.
A couple of oarfish washed ashore in Southern California last October – a 14-footer in Oceanside and an 18 footer in Catalina.
This would explain George Spicer’s phantopsia.
I think the behavior was very odd. I’m not particularly well versed on the behavior of fish, BUT to find one that close to shore is very odd indeed.
Worried about the fish but delighted to see such good footage of it, esp. underwater.
It seems like these unusual fish have been showing up at an increasing rate over the past few years. Perhaps another indicator of problems in the deep…?
Oh dear. Beautiful fish but it might be in trouble.
I wonder if something like this started the Loch Ness legend.
I’m really going to have to take the dry suit and snorkling tackle – if not full diving kit – with me next time I go to Skye. Basking sharks, don’t ya know?
One of the other oarfish videos that came up after watching the posted one – I mean this – had shots of various others, mostly authentic but including one bad photoshop job, and also a picture of two whale penises that didn’t look anything like oarfish.