Tuesday August 27, 2024
UC San Diego —
A team of science-minded kayakers and snorkelers in La Jolla Cove had the encounter of a lifetime when a dead oarfish washed to the ocean surface on Aug.10, 2024. This deep-sea fish is incredibly rare, and marks only the 20th oarfish documented to have washed up in California since 1901.
Thanks to the work from these locals, the fish was transported to the NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla. On Aug. 16, a team of scientists from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, California State University Fullerton, and NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center were able to examine the rare short-crested oarfish (Regalecus russellii), performing a necropsy, or animal autopsy, to learn more about this unique organism.
“Rare encounters like this provide an amazing opportunity to learn more about this species and how it lives,” said Ben Frable, ichthyologist and manager of the Marine Vertebrate Collection at Scripps, who was part of the necropsy team. “We are fortunate to have a large community of researchers and world-class collection that mobilized quickly to examine and preserve this fish.”