INDOZONE.ID – Beachgoers in Oregon have recently been fascinated by the fascinating remains of an exotic 100-pound fish after being stranded hundreds of miles from their normal habitat. This 3.5-foot-long fish, also known as moonfish, was found off Sunset Beach in Northern Oregon at 8 a.m. local time on July 14.
This colorful creature has a mixture of bright silver and reddish hues, with orange scales that circle all over its flat body, and features occasional white dots and glittering golden eyes. After receiving photos of the stranded fish from a passerby, staff from the nearby Seaside Aquarium found the remains.
Visitors to the aquarium are then treated to an up-close and personal view of the rare specimen. Seeing this, the Assistant Manager at Seaside Aquarium commented.
“[Ikan] was in great shape, meaning it was near the beach when it died,” Tiffany Boothe, assistant manager at Seaside Aquarium, told The Washington Post.
For your information, Opahs are pelagic fish themselves, meaning they live in the open ocean, but are generally found off the coast of California around Hawaii, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). However, it is very rare to find one this far north.
“I don’t expect that much paycheck to usually come out of Oregon,” Heidi Dewar, a research biologist with NOAA Fisheries not involved in the recovery, told the Post.
“We see some marine organisms moving north as ocean temperatures increase,” he continued.
In 2015 alone, a NOAA-led study found that the opah is the only warm-blooded fish alive to date. Unlike other ectothermic fish, the opah itself is endothermic and can control its body temperature to keep it warm. Little else is known about their biology, although scientists think opah can grow to more than 1.8 m and weigh up to 272 kg.
Other Interesting Articles:
–
– .
