The Seaside Aquarium officials found an unusually odd-looking fish at the Oregon Coast at the Sunset Beach in the US. The astonishingly large fish was found to be 3.5-foot long and over 100 pounds (approx. 46 kg).
The fish had a huge body, a mix of silvery and bright reddish-orange scales, dotted with white spots. Its large eyes feature hints of gold.
Tiffany Boothe, assistant manager at the aquarium in the small beach community of Seaside, said it’s the first opah fish she has seen on area beaches. Boothe said it was not clear how this fish died, but she noted that it was in “great condition, meaning it was close to shore when it died,” according to ‘Washington Post’.
The recovery of the rare species of fish created quite the stir at the Aquarium where folks were encouraged to come take a look at this beautiful and odd-looking fish, the Seaside Aquarium wrote in a Facebook post.
The aquarium officials also informed that the fish will be frozen for educational purposes until the school year starts. Partnering with the Columbia River Maritime Museum’s educational director, Nate Sandel, one lucky school group will get the chance to dissect this large fish.
Opahs, also called the ‘moonfish’, can grow to over 6 feet and weigh over 600 pounds. They inhabit pelagic (meaning they live in the open ocean), tropical and temperate waters, including the Pacific Islands and the United States’ West Coast, Southeast, New England and Mid-Atlantic regions. The opah feed on krill and squid.
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