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Rare ROV video footage of the Giant Oarfish

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The Giant Oarfish is one of the deep’s most enigmatic creatures and likely to be the origin of the ancient mariners’ tales of sea serpents. First named Regalecus Glesne in 1772 by Norwegian biologist Peter Ascanius, they are the world’s longest known bony fish. The longest ever recorded was 26ft but it’s thought they could grow to 50ft.  Specimens have occasionally washed ashore around the world but little is known about this fish because of the 1000 to 3000 ft depth they live.  The SERPENT Project involves a partnership between scientists and commercial ROV operators around the world who are on the lookout during deep sea ROV procedures. And occasionally footage is recorded of these graceful movers. The Oarfish in this video is only about 8ft long. The amiiform propulsion, the oscillation of the dorsal fin, can clearly be seen in this superb high definition video. They appear to assume a vertical position at times which is believed to help them hunt for krill silhouetted against the light from above. Vertical migration is necessary to hunt for krill so it is also likely that they adopt a vertical position because of an anatomical feature of the Oarfish- they have no swim bladder. The swim bladder enables … Continue reading

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