Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Need Some Help




I thought it would be pretty straight forward to identify this fish before I posted these pictures but I'm drawing a blank - does anyone have any ideas? It is approximately 4 feet long, it had bright blue eyes, a body and head most resembling a barracuda except with a top fin along the whole length of the body. It had a mouth full of teeth and seemed to be towards the end of it's life cycle - the tail and fins were a bit tattered and it seemed tired and weak. Any help with an identification would be appreciated - I've never seen anything like it this far north . . . .

In hind sight, I should have eaten it . . . with my sister there I was trying to go against my nature and be a nice guy! Cheers and good night . . . .

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My first thought was "eel", but it doesn't fit the images I found.
Carla

Kym said...

A fox and an alien fish...I'm experiencing severe place jealousy! What a wonderful adventure your life is!

Alaska Steve said...

It looks like it is a lancetfish, you can see the description matches pretty well here:

http://www.answers.com/topic/lancet-fish

I asked around and apparently they are normally a deep water fish but are known to beach themselves out here in the spring and summer, possibly related to breeding activities. It was a pretty unique sight, I can tell you! I'm glad I didn't keep it for the freezer, the flesh is not very good. Thanks Kym and Carla!

By the way, Carla - do you have an update on the Berri? If so, please email me!