Incredible: An 18-foot-long oarfish found dead in the water off Catalina Island near Los Angeles, California
An oarfish in California is generating rumors of sea serpents of legend being real.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, a giant squid was found in Spain and the sea monster was much larger than previous discoveries.
As a comparison, California’s oarfish, or Regalecus glesne, measured only 14 feet and the giant squid was more than double that.
The first oarfish found by a marine instructor snorkeling off Santa Catalina Island was measured at a mere 18 feet long. But these sea monsters can grow to be the width of a human torso and the largest oarfish ever found was 26 feet long, although it’s believed they can grower to larger than 50 feet.
The oarfish is a creature that is thought to have inspired legends of giant sea serpents. Most oarfish live at an ocean depth of 3,000 feet so scientists don’t exactly know much about them.
Extraordinary footage of a rarely seen giant deep sea fish has been captured by SERPENT scientists. Using a remotely operated vehicle, Mark Benfield (the leader of GulfSERPENT) caught rare video of five oarfish. These appear to be the first observations from remotey operated vehicles (ROVs) and are among only a few sightings of the fish in its natural oceanic habitat. The oarfish, which can reach 6-8 m in length, is generally known from dead or dying specimens that was ashore.
Oarfish (Regalecus glesne) are one of the world's longest fish reaching 6 - 8 m. Their strange appearance may have provided the basis for the sea serpent myths told by early ocean travellers. Not only are they elongated, they also have a prominent dorsal fin which gives it an unusual "serpent" appearance. Benfield's team reports on the deepest record of an oarfish from 493 m below BP's Thunder Horse platform. Recalling the event Professor Benfield explained how at first, they thought the fish was simply a drilling pipe called a riser being lowered into the water. "We saw this bright vertical shiny thing, I said 'are they lowering more riser?' as it looked like they were lowering a huge pipe." "We zoomed in a little bit and we said 'that's not a riser that's a fish!'". "As we approached it retreated downwards swimming tail first in a vertical orientation as the ROV followed," Professor Benfield explained. The team followed the fish for about five minutes before breaking off contact to resume their surveys. "What was interesting about the fish was its swimming behaviour," said Professor Benfield. "It moved by undulating its dorsal fin in waves that propelled it backwards at quite a good speed." Early estimates measure the fish at between 5.1 - 6.8 m in length.
Professor Benfield said this may be the first time the oarfish has been filmed alive swimming in the so-called mesopelagic layer of the ocean. Usually, they are seen dying at the sea surface or washed up dead. The fish may have been caught on camera at a depth of 765m at another Serpent survey site, off western Africa in 2007, but a positive identification has not yet been made from that video. On this occasion the fish was observed underneath Thunderhorse in the Gulf of Mexico, one of the largest semi-submersible oil rigs in the world. The Serpent project run by the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) is a unique collaborative project between scientists and industry. Oil and gas companies allow scientists access to their deep sea technologies and infrastructure in a bid to aid their research. "(It) provides a wonderful opportunity to learn more about life in the depths of the Gulf of Mexico. That we found an oarfish while doing so was a fantastic bonus," said Professor Benfield. Professor Benfield is excited by the potential for further discoveries and revelations from the deep that the SERPENT project may bring. "It's all very exciting, my vision for the Gulf SERPENT Project is to establish a Gulf-wide deep sea biological observation system, with hundreds of ROV-equipped ships and rigs in the deep Gulf." "(We can) get a good idea of what species are present, where they are present, and what they are doing.".
The results of this study have been published in the Journal of Fish Biology. Links to all five observations are available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jfb.12144/suppinfo. This story has also been heavily reported in the mainstream media and blogosphere. Including the BBC news, Daily Mail and Deep-sea News.
Source: http://www.serpentproject.com/news.php
SERPENT Project
The oceans of the world are a vast, alien landscape, covering more than half the Earth's surface. It is the last great frontier on our planet and the SERPENT project is researching this exciting undersea environment through unique and innovative deep sea exploration.
It is only through the generous help of offshore oil and gas companies and their highly skilled ROV teams that SERPENT can undertake this vital work. These dedicated professionals are helping us to push the boundaries of deep sea research, and contributing to our growing knowledge of the open oceans.
About:
SERPENT is a global project hosted by the DEEPSEAS group, within Ocean Biogeochemistry and Ecosystems (OBE) at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton (NOC). The project has a growing network of UK and global partners.
Collaborating closely with key players in the oil and gas industry, the "Scientific and Environmental ROV Partnership using Existing iNdustrial Technology" (SERPENT) project aims to make cutting-edge industrial ROV technology and data more accessible to the world's science community, share knowledge and progress deep-sea research. The programme interacts with science and conservation groups globally to communicate the project to the public, increasing the awareness of our fragile marine resources.
SERPENT is a global project hosted by the DEEPSEAS group, within Ocean Biogeochemistry and Ecosystems (OBE) at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS). The project has a growing network of UK and global partners.
Link: http://www.serpentproject.com/default.php
Giant Oarfish
The giant oarfish (Regalecus glesne), also called the king of herrings, is a species of oarfish of the family Regalecidae. It is an oceanodromous species that has a worldwide distribution, excluding polar regions.
Regalecus glesne is the world's longest bony fish. Its shape is ribbonlike, narrow laterally, with a dorsal fin along its entire length, stubby pectoral fins and long, oar-shaped pelvic fins, from which its common name is derived. Its coloration is silvery with dark markings, and its fins are red.
Its physical characteristics and its undulating mode of swimming have led to speculation that it might be the source of many "sea-serpent" sightings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_oarfish
Published on Jun 9, 2013
The giant oarfish, the largest bony fish alive, has finally been caught on camera in its natural environment.
Marine biologists at Louisiana State University captured the mysterious fish on camera through a partnership with an offshore drilling company in the Gulf of Mexico.
The scientists used the company's remote-operated submersibles and observed the oarfish five times between 2008 and 2011.
The giant oarfish was first discovered in 1772 by Norwegian biologist Peter Ascanius . It's formal scientific title is Regalecus glesne, but the fish is also known as king of the herring, Pacific oarfish, streamer fish and ribbon-fish. And that's just what the thin fish looks like - a stream of ribbon.
The oarfish in the video is thought to be around 8 feet long. The longest recorded specimen clocked in at 26 feet.
However, the species is believed to grow as long as 50 feet and weigh as much as 600 pounds.
Like the equally mysterious giant squid, the oarfish would go on to enchant fisherman and sailors and inspire stories of sea monsters.
The reason the oarfish hadn't been caught on camera before is because it lives at extreme ocean depths, between 656 feet (0.2 kilometers) and 3,280 feet (1 kilometer) deep.
In a partnership called the SERPENT Project, scientists are able to peer into depths not normally observable by enlisting the help of deep sea oil and gas drillers.
Not much is known about the creature. Studies had previously only been possible when the rare fish has washed ashore dead or dying.
Though the species has only been sighted in a few places worldwide, it is believed to inhabit deep waters around the globe, save for the polar regions.
The fish uses a form of location called amiiform swimming in which its dorsal fin, which runs the length of its sizable body, undulates while the body itself remains straight and motionless.
Last October, an oarfish washed ashore off Cabo San Lucas. It was 15-feet-long and attracted a crowd of gawkers. No one could revive the fish, so it was taken in for scientific study.
In 2006, another oarfish in poor condition surfaced in a cove on Santa Catalina Island in Southern California.
Doug Oudin, a harbormaster, was able to swim with the creature before it died remarking that it's coloring was 'metallic silver with bright blue-brown spots and splotches, along with its amazing pinkish-red fell length dorsal fin.'
It also appeared that the fish was blind, which isn't unusual for creatures that live at such deep parts of the ocean where there is little light.
Another spotting of the creature occurred in 1901. A 22-foot oarfish landed on Newport Beach, California, which spurned ' the basis for many sea-serpent stories told by local bay patrons for more than a decade after its discovery,' according to reporting on Pete Thomas Outdoors.
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Are the bodies of two giant sea serpents that washed up on Californian beach last week a sign of a looming major natural disaster?
- Two huge oarfish were found in the past week off the Californian coast near Los Angeles
- The first measured 18 feet and needed 16 people to drag it ashore
- A few days later a second 'sea monster' washed ashore measuring almost 14 feet
- Scientists believe they come ashore to die because they are ‘in distress’
- However, the two sightings this week in California were ‘probably just a coincidence’, according to scientist Rick Feeny
- Japanese folklore believes oarfish rise to the water’s surface before an impending earthquake
- Scientists speculate it is because the bottom-dwelling fish are more sensitive to seismic shifts
- In 2011, just a few months before a magnitude 8.9 earthquake hit northeast Japan, over a dozen oarfish washed shore near the epicentre
- The ancient 'sea serpent' legend can grow to 50 feet long and weigh 600 pounds
An illustration of Bank's Oarfish, circa 1850,
the giant fish that inspired tales of sea serpents. The 18-foot oarfish
found off California took 16 people to haul ashore
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