Something you don’t expect to see every day.
This is not the first time outdoors enthusiasts have stumbled upon a fish that looks out of place. If you recall, earlier this year, social media freaked out after a deep-sea fish, known as a humpback anglerfish, was spotted swimming near the coast of Tenerife, off the Canary Islands in Spain. The sight was such a big deal because the humpback anglerfish lives in deep, dark water and hardly ever comes near the surface of the ocean. It marked only the second time ever that this creature has been caught on camera alive.
@nbcnewsResearchers in #Spain believe they’ve possibly recorded the first-ever sighting of an adult abyssal #anglerfish off the coast of #Tenerife.♬ Horror Sound Music – Mauro Rawn
While this most recent rare fish spotting might not be as rare as spotting a humpback anglerfish, it still has outdoor enthusiasts who were jazzed to spot a longnose lancetfish (Alepisaurus ferox) on the coast of Oregon. The prehistoric-looking fish resembles a barracuda, but looks like the scrawny younger sibling of the fish.
The Seaside Aquarium in Oregon shared an image of the fish a local found, and shared a few facts about the fish online with those curious about the spooky-looking species.
“Resembling a barracuda, this is one fish you would not expect to run across along the Oregon coast. Their beautiful large eyes, sharp fang-like teeth, and serpent-like body distinguishes this fish from most others living in the Pacific Northwest. Little is known about the longnose lancetfish. We know they range from the southern Bering Sea to Chile and occupy surface waters down to 6,000 feet.”
The aquarium shared that the longnose lancetfish is often seen on the Oregon coast in the spring and summer.
The species is most often found in bodies of water, including the Aleutian Islands, Chile, the Western Atlantic (from the Gulf of Maine to the Gulf of Mexico), the Caribbean Sea, the Northwest and Eastern Atlantic, the Indian Ocean, and the South China Sea. According to the NOAA Fisheries, longnose lancetfish like warmer waters but can migrate as far north as subarctic areas like Alaska’s Bering Sea to feed. Because of this, the Pacific Northwest is a point where they could be found during a migration.
When people stumble upon the longnose lancetfish, they are often left perplexed by the fish, given that it has the same shiny scales as barracuda but only weighs an average of 20 pounds. Their weight is significantly less than you might think, given that they can grow up to seven feet long. To put that in perspective, a barracuda can weigh 100 pounds and grow up to six and a half feet in length.
Something else that also makes the longnose lancetfish unique is its eating habits. Given that they are found in a wide variety of regions, they often hunt anything and everything. The Seaside Aquarium is known to house over 90 different species, and they are also known to eat artificial materials, such as plastics.
“A longnosed lancetfish washed ashore on Seaside beach yesterday. Check out what we found inside of its stomach!
Resembling a barracuda, this is one fish you would not expect to run across along the Oregon coast. Their beautiful large eyes, sharp fang-like teeth, and serpent-like body distinguishes this fish from most others living in the Pacific Northwest. Little is known about the longnose lancetfish. We know they range from the southern Bering Sea to Chile and occupy surface waters down to 6,000 feet.
We also know that they are not picky eaters, they are known to eat over 90 different species of marine life, including each other, and unfortunately, are attracted to plastics. Their unique feeding habits, along with the varying range of depth that they occupy, have scientists studying their stomach contents. They have poor digestion, so when you look at the contents of their stomachs you will usually see whole fish and other prey items. By studying what the longnose lancetfish is eating scientists can better understand how the marine food web changes over time (if at all). It may also help understand changes in the food web brought on by events like El Nino or La Nina.
For some reason in the spring and summer a handful of these guys wash ashore on Oregon beaches. The aquarium often gets a call when someone comes across one of these odd-looking fish wondering exactly what it is that they have found. Longnose lancetfish can reach 7 feet and weigh up to 20 pounds.
The aquarium showed what was in the fish’s stomach, indicating that the fish had most recently eaten some small squid, fish, and something that appeared to have had claws. The images of this creepy creature are very cool and aren’t something you see every day.
However, I would hate to stumble upon one of these while I was strolling on the beach. That would make me jump sideways and say a long list of profanities.
