Welcome to the second installment of Wild Facts – Deep Sea Creatures, where we head to the deepest and darkest depths of the ocean to find some of the strangest animals known to man.  Today we are going to study the longest bony fish that humans know about.  Of course I am talking about the amazing Oarfish.  The nice thing about this animal is the fact that even though they are considered a Deep Sea Fish, you will get to see them quite often.  This probably isn’t good for the fish since it means they have just washed up on the shore, but it does seem to happen quite often.

So I know you are dying to find out just how long the longest bony fish really is.  Are you sitting down?  Good, because this fish can reach a total length of 15 meters (50′) and can weigh up to………..wait for it……..272 kg (600 lbs).  I don’t know about you but I am pretty impressed that such a long, narrow fish can weigh so much.  I honestly don’t know what I would do if I caught one of these things on my fishing line.

To make this fish even cooler is the fact that it has a bluish, scale-less body with a large red dorsal fin. If there is one deep sea fish that has a fashion sense, it is definitely the Oarfish.  As a result of the extreme length and interesting colours, it is believed that this particular deep sea fish is responsible for many “Sea Monster’ sightings.

So what do these bizarre creatures feed on when hanging out 3000 feet below the ocean surface?  Well, they have a small mouth and their teeth are hardly visible so I doubt they are taking down large sharks.  Instead, they feed on harmless animals such as plankton, shrimp and any other crustaceans they can get their mouth on.  Naturally, these long, heavy fish provide an excellent food source to even larger fish such as sharks.  You have to love the circle of life.

It is time to head back to the surface and catch a breath before we head back down for another Deep Sea Adventure tomorrow.  Enjoy the rest of your day and I will chat with you tomorrow.