An extremely rare, giant snake-like fish from the deep sea recently drifted off the coast of New Zealand. A marine biologist was relaxing on a Dunedin beach when he saw oarfish on the beach. Dr. Bridy Allen of the University of Otago investigated it and quickly recognized the species. He shared the video of the fish on his Twitter account and wrote, As soon as I saw it, I knew it was an oarfish.
In the video, a fish is seen on the edge of the water. Williams, who first saw it, said, “Wow, that looks like a shark.” He said, it looks like a dolphin, look how tall it is. At the same time, in the video, the fish can be seen flapping a little while fighting for air. According to the report, oarfish are a snake-like sea creature and they are usually found in deep water. Dr. Allen said that an oarfish floating along Armoana beach was not a good sign. He told that the fish was alive but very weak. The fish was about 3.6 meters long.
A video of the live oarfish found today at Aramoana beach, Dunedin. Isaac Williams pic.twitter.com/7t22e7I2O0
— Bridie Allan (@_seachange) April 25, 2022
Isaac Williams, who found it, tried to help the oarfish swim, however, it floated to the surface. Dr. Allen said that the fish would not have survived because it was on its end. He said there were some deep water basins off the coast of Otago, but whether it came from there is only speculation. According to Stuff, Emma Burns, curator of natural science at the Otago Museum, said that one of the first specimens of oarfish was collected from Otago Beach, Moraki, and sent to London in 1883. The specimen is now part of the Natural History Museum.