Bizarre New Fish Discovered

An unusual fish, previously unknown was discovered recently off Brazils Bahia coast.

The fish is over 6 feet long, with a long tail was found floating in the sea by researchers from the TAMAR Project, a sea turtle conservation project.

TAMAR project coordinator Guy Marcovaldi captured the first images of the fish, which was dead and lying near the surface of the water. His special underwater camera is normally used for tracking and filming sea turtles.

Specialists observing the fish told Brazils TV Globo the animal weighs about 88 pounds (40 kilos).

It has small teeth and no scales. Due to its large body fat content and gelatinous consistency, researchers do not believe it would be edible.

news.nationalgeographic.com...
Check the link for the video of the creature!

What a weird creature. No scales..weird!
Maybe related to the Blob fish?
Really neat that we can still find new creatures in this day and age.

That looks like one of those deep-sea fish.



Too bad it was dead.

Well if a Japanese or Chinese person found that, it would make dinner or fine sushi. How did it die?

When you go out and slaughter things for sport your bound to find something new and endangered.

I trust that the NG's marine biologist knows what he's talking about, and I am not a biologist of any kind.

That said, the fish looks to me like a member of the grouper family that has been skinned. I saw at the start where it appears dead in the water on a line, however that could've been mocked up.

It's the subcutaneous fat layers that really caught my eye -- I've seen that a lot on various "hidefish" -- those without scales, such as shark, ocean tubot, etc. and in paticular, grouper can have pockets of fat between the scales and body( although I recognize that grouper have scales). Know a bit about how vicious the competition in the ocean is, it's hard for me to imagine such a soft and tempting creature surviving as it appears in the video.

Very interesting! I hope we find out more about this. I hope it is a previously undiscovered species.

edit to add the grouper/scales bit.

[edit on 21/9/09 by argentus]

Weird as hell and good find

But in the corner of my eye from 0:15 to 0:16 to white objects in the background fly dwn, would get a screen shot, but don't know how to post screen shot onto this :/

Hope you can see it.

F & S
For the fish

The first thing that comes to my mind is the oar fish:

en.wikipedia.org...

Oarfish are large, greatly elongated, pelagic Lampriform comprising the small family Regalecidae. Found in all temperate to tropical oceans yet rarely seen, the oarfish family contains four species in two genera. One of these, the king of herrings (Regalecus glesne), is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest bony fish alive, at up to 11 metres (36 ft) in length.

The common name oarfish is presumably in reference to either their highly compressed and elongated bodies, or to the former (but now discredited) belief that the fish "row" themselves through the water with their pelvic fins. The family name Regalecidae is derived from the Latin regalis, meaning "royal". The occasional beachings of oarfish after storms, and their habit of lingering at the surface when sick or dying, make oarfish a probable source of many sea serpent tales.

Although the larger species are considered game fish and are (to a minor extent) fished commercially, oarfish are rarely caught alive; their flesh is not well regarded due to its gelatinous consistency.

Anatomy and morphology

Oarfish that washed ashore on a Bermuda beach in 1860. The animal was 16 feet (4.9 m) long and was originally described as a sea serpent.

The tapering, ribbony silver bodies of oarfish—together with an impressive, pinkish to cardinal red dorsal fin—help explain the perception of majesty taken from rare encounters. The dorsal fin originates from above the (relatively small) eyes and runs the entire length of the fish. Of the approximately 400 dorsal fin rays, the first 10 to 12 are elongated to varying degrees, forming a trailing crest embellished with reddish spots and flaps of skin at the ray tips. The pelvic fins are similarly elongated and adorned, reduced to 1 to 5 rays each. The pectoral fins are greatly reduced and situated low on the body. The anal fin is completely absent and the caudal fin may be reduced or absent as well, with the body tapering to a fine point. All fins lack true spines. At least one account, from researchers in New Zealand, describes the oarfish as giving off "electric shocks" when touched.

Like other members of its order, the oarfish has a small yet highly protrusible oblique mouth with no visible teeth. The body is scaleless and the skin covered with easily abraded, silvery guanine. In the streamer fish (Agrostichthys parkeri), the skin is clad with hard tubercles. All species lack gas bladders and the number of gill rakers is variable.

Oarfish coloration is also variable; the flanks are commonly covered with irregular bluish to blackish streaks, black dots, and squiggles. These markings quickly fade following death. The king of herrings is by far the largest member of the family at a published total length of 11 meters (with unconfirmed reports of 15 meters or more) and 272 kilograms in weight. The streamer fish is known to reach 3 meters total length whilst the largest recorded specimen of Regalecus russelii measured just 5.5 centimeters standard length. It is probable that this little-known species can regularly reach a maximum length of at least 15.2 meters (50 ft).

reply to post by warrenb


I believe we're going to be seeing a lot of new species of animals on this Earth due the increasing pollution. With all the chemicals and chemical waste being pumped into the atmosphere and dumped into the oceans, the existing species we have not will have no choice but to evolve and adapt to their changing environments. What we're seeing is evidence of Darwinism.

reply to post by sumgai


I agree with you but I am almost certain that this is an oar fish and I am fairly certain that it will be identified as such before the week is out.

Originally posted by sumgai
reply to post by warrenb

 

I believe we're going to be seeing a lot of new species of animals on this Earth due the increasing pollution. With all the chemicals and chemical waste being pumped into the atmosphere and dumped into the oceans, the existing species we have not will have no choice but to evolve and adapt to their changing environments. What we're seeing is evidence of Darwinism.

I have the same view. I believe that evolution can happen very
suddenly as well as over long periods of time. There really is no
telling what the dumping of all our chemicals will do to life in the
sea. Life is amazing and will often surprise us. This may be no
different.
Someone said it looked like an oarfish, I agree. maybe a cross
between that and a megamouth shark. neat find, I love this kind
of stuff.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals

Originally posted by sumgai
reply to post by warrenb

 

I believe we're going to be seeing a lot of new species of animals on this Earth due the increasing pollution. With all the chemicals and chemical waste being pumped into the atmosphere and dumped into the oceans, the existing species we have not will have no choice but to evolve and adapt to their changing environments. What we're seeing is evidence of Darwinism.

I have the same view. I believe that evolution can happen very
suddenly as well as over long periods of time. There really is no
telling what the dumping of all our chemicals will do to life in the
sea. Life is amazing and will often surprise us. This may be no
different.

Ditto from me.

I'd really like to find out more about the weird creatures that are found 'oceanside' off Diego Garcia. I know there are people on ATS with this info. Please share it or at the very least U2U me.


[edit on 21-9-2009 by sharps]

www.educatedearth.net...

www.youtube.com...

The first video is very clear...the second is unfortunately not so clear

Check this photo out

www.thejump.net...

Here is another photo

www.bloodydecks.com...

Reminds me of the species of shark that was found of the coast of Japan.
Link to MSNBC Article

Doesn't seem to be a shark, obviously, but the body structure seems to be similar.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals

Originally posted by sumgai
reply to post by warrenb

 

I believe we're going to be seeing a lot of new species of animals on this Earth due the increasing pollution. With all the chemicals and chemical waste being pumped into the atmosphere and dumped into the oceans, the existing species we have not will have no choice but to evolve and adapt to their changing environments. What we're seeing is evidence of Darwinism.

I have the same view. I believe that evolution can happen very
suddenly as well as over long periods of time. There really is no
telling what the dumping of all our chemicals will do to life in the
sea. Life is amazing and will often surprise us. This may be no
different.
Someone said it looked like an oarfish, I agree. maybe a cross
between that and a megamouth shark. neat find, I love this kind
of stuff.

An organism will not change with rapidity. It takes time to reassemble DNA.
Slow but sure. No need to fix it if it ain' broke.
Random Mutation is an atheistic attempt to explain life by eliminating the true aspect of creation and evolution.
By your own post you point out the ancient attributes of this specimen and do not address any recent mutation. If you are interested in proven mutation, visit one of my threads that deal with evolution.

reply to post by Donny 4 million


Actually current theories in evolution suggest that animals can adapt quite quickly...DNA suggests that the shift from wolf to dog happened within a couple of decades.

Originally posted by grover
reply to post by Donny 4 million

 

Actually current theories in evolution suggest that animals can adapt quite quickly...DNA suggests that the shift from wolf to dog happened within a couple of decades.

Correct when, manipulated or interbred. Your avatar still looks pretty much like a wolf.
The problem with manipulation of genes is that inbreeding creates weakness in the resulting creatures.
Can you imagine a pack of naked chiwawas trying to survive a Yellowstone winter?
The fish in question if real has had to develope in the natural world.
Although I agree heavy metals and other pollutants have contributed to mutation in marine life. I was just trying to point out that the process is not in my opinion a one time random change of DNA.

reply to post by Donny 4 million


Actually there are currents in evolutionary science that suggest that under the right circumstances evolution can happen quite quickly without human intervention...like in a sudden drop in species and the opening up of new ecologically niches.

isnt it amazing the things we still have to discover that God has created

Originally posted by grover
reply to post by Donny 4 million

 

Actually there are currents in evolutionary science that suggest that under the right circumstances evolution can happen quite quickly without human intervention...like in a sudden drop in species and the opening up of new ecologically niches.

I agree completely. Usually mass extinction or the creation of remote habitat.
A new niche for bio mass. I don't think our fish meets the criteria. Although mother nature is quite fickle her rate of DNA change is still in thousands of years.

Originally posted by the illuminator
isnt it amazing the things we still have to discover that God has created

I think I could embrace this statement if you could contemplate the possibility that god
is the very first life form on planet earth.
The very beginning of the fossil record,
The father to all , including our fish.