Giant oarfish
| King of Herrings | |
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| Taxidermied specimen of Regalecus glesne in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien. | |
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| Species: | R. glesne
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| Binomial name | |
| Regalecus glesne Ascanius, 1772
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The king of herrings or giant oarfish (Chinese: 皇帶魚; pinyin: huángdài yú; Regalecus glesne), an oarfish of the family Regalecidae, is the world's longest bony fish. Rarely sighted, it is found in all the world's oceans at depths of between 300 and 1000 metres. Most sightings have been in the north Atlantic, with most specimens found either dead or dying in shallow waters.[2]
The king of herrings is neither a true herring nor a close relative. According to the Great Book of Animals, its name comes from being sighted near shoals of herring, which fishermen thought were being guided by this fish.[2] It is scaleless, ribbon-shaped and silvery with a long, red dorsal fin.[2]
Description
The king of herrings is the world's longest bony fish.[3] Its total length can reach 17 m, and it can weigh up to 300 kg. Its length (the record is 17 m (56 ft)) and bizarre appearance are presumed to be responsible for some sea serpent sightings.[4]
Sightings
In May 2010, a dead 3 m specimen was found off the coast of Sweden. The last time one had been reported in Swedish waters was in 1879.[5]
On December 10 2010, a live specimen of four metres was found on the south coast of Sinaloa state in Mexico. One of the fisherman who captured it said it might be the "Devil" and feared it might swallow them.[6]
On April 6 2011, a live specimen measuring 3.5 m was found off the east coast of Taiwan, nearly a month after the devastating tsunami hit Japan in March. Taiwanese fishermen believed that the giant oarfish surfaced to the shallow water because of the earthquake in Japan. They gave the giant oarfish a nickname, "Earthquake Fish".[7]
References
- ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Recalegus glesne". FishBase.
- ^ a b c (1997).The Great Book of Animals. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Courage Books, Running Press Publishers. p.102. ISBN 0-7624-0137-0.
- ^ "Rare 'King of Herrings' found off Swedish coast". Yahoo! News. 12 May 2010. Retrieved 13 May 2010. [dead link]
- ^ Encyclopedia of Fishes, Second Edition, p 157, Paxton, et al.,(Eds), 1998, Academic Press
- ^ 4:42 p.m. ET. "Fisherman's find: rare, 12-foot-long creature". MSNBC. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Capturan en Teacapán raro pez
- ^ [1]
Further reading
- Glover, C.J.M. in Gomon, M.F, J.C.M. Glover & R.H. Kuiter (Eds). 1994. The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. State Print, Adelaide. Pp. 992.
- Olney, J.E. Ii Paxton, J.R. & W.N. Eschmeyer (Eds). 1994. Encyclopedia of Fishes. Sydney: New South Wales University Press; San Diego: Academic Press [1995]. Pp. 240.
- Bourton, J. Giant bizarre deep sea fish filmed in Gulf of Mexico BBC News 8 February 2010.
External links
- Regalecus glesne at FishBase
- "Giant oarfish". The Encyclopedia of Life.
- Magazine picture
