Rare 5-foot-long 'Twilight Zone' fish washes up on Oregon shore
A haunting surprise washed up on the Oregon coast earlier this week - a fang-toothed predator nearly five feet long, from the so-called 'Twilight Zone' of the sea.
The beastly creature, identified as a longnose lancetfish, stunned locals on Seaside Beach, with its sail-like dorsal fin arching above its eel-like body.
For most beachgoers, the rare sighting of the prehistoric-looking fish is the stuff of nightmares but for self-described 'fish nerds' at the Seaside Aquarium, it was a dream come true.
Tiffany Boothe, assistant manager at the aquarium, in an interview to USA Today said: 'It doesn't look like a very friendly fish. If I saw that fish alive, I wouldn't touch it.'
With its gaping mouth lined with sharp, curved teeth and massive, unblinking eyes, the lancetfish could easily be mistaken for a sea monster.
The bizarre event was unearthed earlier this week when a curious beachgoer walked into the aquarium gift shop, clutching a photograph of the strange, freshly beached fish.
The specimen looked so unusually intact that aquarium staff rushed out to retrieve it before seagulls could tear it apart.
Boothe said: 'When he showed us the picture, it was such a fresh, great specimen that we were like, "Sweet, we're gonna go pick it up".'
Boothe continued: 'It's kind of hard to find ones that are fresh and that intact. The seagulls just absolutely go crazy after them.'
For the aquarium team, who have seen a handful of lancetfish wash up over the years, this particular specimen was a rare opportunity for a hands-on study.
Nicknamed the 'Twilight Zone' fish due to the fact it hunts deep within the mesopelagic zone, a murky region of ocean lying between 650 to 3,300 feet below the surface, the longnose lancetfish usually dwells well out of human reach.
They are usually only seen when deep-sea fisherman accidentally catch them when using long-lines to fish tuna.
The fish prefers warmer waters but is known to migrate as far north as the Bering Sea, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Part sea serpent, part fang-toothed nightmare, the lancetfish belongs to the genus Alepisaurus, meaning 'scaleless lizard.'
With a ribbon-like body, sail-shaped fin, and glassy eyes, the lancetfish looks like it could have swum straight out of the Jurassic period.
Though other fish, sharks, and seals may prey on lancetfish, humans have little use for them.
Their flesh is watery, gelatinous, and notoriously unappetizing making them one of the few apex marine predators that doesn't end up on a dinner plate.
While the fish's horrifying appearance was enough to draw attention, the real mystery was inside its stomach.
Lancetfish, according to NOAA and the Seaside Aquarium, are infamous for their slow digestive systems - a biological quirk that allows scientists an intact glimpse at their last meals.
The team at Seaside Aquarium couldn't resist the chance to peek inside.
Boothe said: 'When you look at their stomach contents, you find whole fish, squids… you see things you wouldn't normally see.'
The aquarium later shared the stomach-churning content, revealing a gruesome array of prey: several squid, octopus remains, and entire fish still whole enough to be easily identified.
The aquarium wrote: 'By studying what the longnose lancetfish is eating, scientists can better understand how the marine food web changes over time (if at all). It may also help understand changes in the food web brought on by events like El Nino or La Nina.'
The lancetfish's stomach contents weren't the only shocking detail.
The elusive predators are also known for their cannibalistic tendencies.
According to Boothe, they have been observed entering frenzied feeding states where they attack others and sometimes fatally injure themselves in the process.
Booth added: 'They get into feeding frenzies and not only will they eat each other, but sometimes they'll whip around and they actually gash themselves.'
Attempts to keep lancetfish alive in captivity have failed miserably with The Seaside Aquarium never managing to keep one alive for more than an hour.
The first specimen the staff recovered in the 1990s was ultimately preserved and mounted by a taxidermist, an eerie but beautiful relic of the deep.
Though it posed no threat to the beachgoers who discovered it, the lancetfish has become an unsettling symbol of the hidden world beneath the waves, a place where ancient predators still roam and prey on anything unlucky enough to cross their path.
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