Photo Credit: Pisces Sportfishing Facebook Page
A giant 20-foot oarfish washed ashore on a busy beach near Cabo San Lucas as amazed tourists cautiously gathered around it. The ailing fish alternately floated and swam weakly amidst the very interested but leery tourists at the main beach of Cabo -El Medano. According to the Pisces Sportfishing Blog,the beach where the fish was discovered is a Protected Natural Area, so park wardens took the oarfish away. The blog says: “Being a bit over-zealous, they zipped to the beach in panga, unceremoniously loaded the fish on board, took it out two miles and dumped it in the sea!”
Oarfish live in very deep waters – between 700 and 3,000 feet – and because of that are rarely seen, especially in shallow beach water. Although 20 feet makes for an impressive sea creature – as well as good video, photos and stories – oarfish have been known to reach up to 55 feet and 600 pounds. The clip below is from a YouTube video posted by a Cabo tourist:
