Post by natalie on Oct 15, 2013 15:34:26 GMT -5
18-Foot Oarfish Carcass Found on Catalina Island
By Pete Thomas, October 15, 2013
By Pete Thomas, October 15, 2013
The discovery was made in Toyon Bay, not far from Avalon, where CIMI runs a camp for kids. Instructors were unloading gear after a tall ship voyage to nearby Santa Barbara Island when they spotted Santana hauling the oarfish ashore, according to KTLA. “The craziest thing we saw during our two-day journey at sea happened when we got home; these islands never cease to amaze,” Connor Gallagher said in a news release.
Oarfish, which can reach lengths of 50-plus feet, inhabit depths of 1,500 to 3,000 feet. They feed largely on krill and other tiny organisms and possess large, saucer-shaped eyes. They are believed to have been responsible for the tales of sea serpents and dragons that would rise like demons to steal crewmen and sink tall ships in ancient times.
They are rarely encountered, but sometimes when they die or are near-death, they surface and wash ashore. Only a handful of live specimens have been found. Interestingly, Catalina was the site of at least one such discovery. In 2006, a 15-foot oarfish was spotted in the island’s Big Fisherman’s Cove. Harbormaster Doug Oudin snorkeled alongside the docile creature before it eventually perished. It was collected for study.
Last year at the Baja California, resort city of Cabo San Lucas, a 15-foot barely-alive oarfish washed ashore on a popular beach. It also died soon after its discovery.
The modern discovery of oarfish may date to 1808, when a 56-foot serpent-like creature washed ashore in Scotland. In 1901, a 22-foot oarfish drifted onto the sand in Newport Beach, California, becoming, according to one reference book, “the basis for many sea-serpent stories told by local bar patrons for more than a decade after its discovery.”
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