8-foot-long 'sea serpent' caught on video

youtu.be...

Ethereal, 8-foot-long 'sea serpent' caught on video


Scientists have released video of an 8-foot-long, shimmering oarfish taken about 200 feet below the ocean surface -- and it is breathtaking.
The elusive oarfish, captured on video in the northern Gulf Coast in 2011.

Elusive and alien-looking, the oarfish has a thin, eel-like body with squiggly iridescent markings that glow blue in the video. It also has a long dorsal fin that stretches the length of nearly half its body, and large round eyes rimmed in silver.

That bright white blob you see in the fish's spiny dorsal fins is a parasitic isopod -- sort of like an ocean version of the roly poly bug -- that has attached itself to the fish. It is a common parasite of marine fish, but it is the first time one has been seen on an oarfish, said Mark Benfield, a marine biologist at Louisiana State University.

Benfield is the lead author of a paper describing the oarfish video, published in a recent issue of the Journal of Fish Biology.

Despite its great size, the fish orients itself vertically, with its head toward the ocean surface, and its blunt tail hanging down. This allows the fish to scan the water above for the krill and other small crustaceans that it eats, and may help it appear smaller to predators who are lurking below, said Benfield.
LA Times

I have been meaning to post this for a while. Go to the 5 min mark if you don't want to wait. At about the 8 min mark it zips off.

Enjoy

reply to post by Grimpachi


Elvis is ALIVE!!!

sorry i couldnt resist with the recent bombardment of Elvis threads.

What a beautiful fish, posing for the cameras with its shimmering streamlined body and that amazing quiff.

Thanks for posting Grimpachi

reply to post by Grimpachi


That is a surprisingly good video for an underwater capture. Having dove quite a bit off the NW coast I can say that there are all sorts of strange things in the water up there but I've never seen a type of fish like that.

Very good video.

Someone should run the changing patterns in the dorsal fin waves through a deciphering program. He might be telling us something.

I remember a thread here a bit back about a sea monster that was an Oarfish, it had a pretty crazy picture in it. I am amazed the size of life our oceans have produced. It always makes me wonder how much life down there is still yet to be discovered. And some of the 'giant' other water bound creatures have been monstrous as well, squid, fish, whales, ect.

I can't wait for the day we start seeing amphibious Sasquatch videos..wait! I need to trade mark that idea!! Just popped in my head, I could see the videos now...

In all seriousness though, thanks for sharing the video. Anyone know if Oarfish are tasty?

Holy Smokes!
They can grow to 50ft in length
And be down 3,000ft

found this info here Oar Fish Facts

Here is a good article on the oarfish with a video that shows one up close...

www.factzoo.com...

That is one ugly fish.

Such a beautiful creature. Ocean life really amazes me, there creatures there are so elegant, and mysterious. I always wonder what other kinds of crazy fish there are that we haven't discovered.

reply to post by mcx1942

In all seriousness though, thanks for sharing the video. Anyone know if Oarfish are tasty?

That would be a good way to feed a family except they say they are inedible.

reply to post by tsurfer2000h


Yeah lol. Talk about extreme marination! Too tough, too salty... but I bet there is someone out there that would find them delicious.

reply to post by mcx1942

Yeah lol. Talk about extreme marination! Too tough, too salty... but I bet there is someone out there that would find them delicious.

I imagine if this show were still on eventually it could have made it's food debut here...



I have seen them use some very unusual ingredients.

reply to post by Grimpachi


Beautiful specimen! I enjoyed it very much.

Inhabitants along the Mekong River in S.E. Asia hold ancient mythologies and folklore of the Oarfish being associated with the divine Naga serpents. From the beauty shown in the op video, it's no wonder it was considered a magical creature.

Peace.

reply to post by Grimpachi


POST REMOVED BY STAFF

Very cool and pretty.
I wish humans had developed bio luminescence. No need to turn on the lights when you need to get to the bathroom in the dark and every day is a 24 hour disco!

reply to post by Lemegeton


That was title of the article. Minus "Ethereal".

That is really awesome! Every time I go near the ocean, I am always thinking about how much of it we don't know about. Seeing fish like these that seem a bit alien just go to show how there is always more to discover! Great find!