A marine science instructor, Jasmine Santana, was near the southern California coast when she discovered the 18-foot-long carcass of an oarfish.
Santana required the help of more than 15 people to pull the rare serpent-like fish from the water, The Associated Press is reporting.
Staffers from the Catalina Island Marine Institute say the body is a huge find. "We've never seen a fish this big," Mark Waddington, senior captain of Tole Mour at CIMI said. "The last oarfish we saw was three feet long."
Santana noticed the body 30 feet deep while snorkeling in Toyon Bay in Santa Catalina Island. Santana noticed it and was able to move the body about 75 feet before others helped her.
Waddington said, "She said, 'I have to drag this thing out of here or nobody will believe me.'"
According to The Telegraph, this is a rare find indeed. Oarfish tend to live deep into the ocean at around 3,000 feet and so it is rarely seen and little is known about it. CIMI said the oarfish is known to be the largest bony fish in the world and can grow up to 50 feet in length.
The oarfish is currently on display, but then will be buried in sand to help it decompose. Then its skeleton will be put up for display.
image: Wikimedia Commons
