Global General

Special

Newsmaker

Asia Pacific

America

Middle East

Europe

Africa

Giant fish washes up on English coast

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-25 10:33

LONDON  – A three-metre (10-foot) long oarfish was discovered by a member of the public in Tynemouth, northeastern England, on Tuesday.

This Blue Reef Aquarium(BRA) handout shows Blue Reef Curator Zahra D'Aronville inspecting a three-metre (10-foot) long oarfish washed up on a beach in Tynemouth, northeast England. [Agencies]

The perfectly-preserved oarfish, the longest species of bony fish, would be taken to a nearby aquarium where scientists will try to determine how it died.

Oarfish can measure up to eight metres in length, though there have been reports of individual oarfish measuring up to twice that, Blue Reef Aquarium said in a press release.

According to aquarium curator Zahra d'Aronville, Tuesday's find was only the fourth such specimen to have been recorded since 1981.

Oarfish are found throughout the deep seas of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean, usually at a depth of 180 metres (600 feet). Their diet typically consists of plankton, small crustaceans and small squid.