Creature from the deep washes up on beach
A marine biologist was relaxing on a Dunedin beach, when she noticed a beachgoer investigating something in the shallows – which turned out to be a giant from the deep.
Dr Bridie Allan, of the University of Otago, went to investigate the mysterious discovery by Isaac Williams on Monday afternoon and instantly recognised the species. ‘‘As soon as I saw it I knew it was an oarfish.’’
Oarfish, a serpent-like sea creature so named because they resemble a boat’s oar, are normally found in deep water, diving more than 900 metres, and sightings are uncommon.
To be found floating in the shallows of Aramoana Beach was not a good sign, Allan said.
‘‘It was alive but very clearly distressed . . . it was very weakly alive,’’ she said of the oarfish, which was estimated to be about 3.6 metres long.
The group tried to help the oarfish start swimming again, but it kept on floating on the surface.
‘‘It wouldn’t have survived, there is no way.’’
Allan said there were some deep water canyons off the coast of Otago, ‘‘but whether it came from there is pure speculation, really’’.
Emma Burns, curator of natural sciences at Otago Museum, said one of the first specimens of oarfish was collected from another Otago beach, Moeraki, and sent to London in 1883. That 3.81 metre specimen is now part of the Natural History Museum collection.
Oarfish could get caught out by Otago harbour, Burns said, because it gets shallow very quickly. She said the pictures of the oarfish found on Monday showed it had lost some of the distinctive silver along its skin, suggesting it had been bumping into things before it got washed up.