Giant "sea serpent" oarfish discovered on Catalina Island
Annie MacAulay, president and CEO of Mountain and Sea Adventures, has been leading nature camps on Santa Catalina Island, Calif., for two decades, and even she was amazed at the sight of a giant oarfish that washed ashore earlier this week.
"I've been on the island for over 20 years doing environmental science camps for kids and this is the first one I've ever seen in person," she told CBS News.
Rarely seen along the coast, oarfish typically live at depths up to 3,000 feet.
The local harbor patrol spotted the carcass of the serpent-like fish near the beach where MacAulay holds her camps and called experts from the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Southern California. "We saw them with their vans so we jumped on our research boat," MacAulay said.
Pacing it out on the deck of the boat, they first estimated the fish to be as much as 17 feet long. Measuring it later, they found it was closer to 15 feet in length. Oarfish can grow up to 50 feet long.
It took 16 people to pick up the fish, Mountain and Sea Adventures employee Miranda Prado told the Orange County Register. The fish was donated to several organizations for scientific research, she said.
The cause of death was unknown.
This is the second time in recent years the island has been the site of a sea serpent spotting. In October 2013, a marine science instructor snorkeling off the Catalina coast came across the body of an 18-foot-long specimen. Less than a week later, a 14-footer attracted crowds in Oceanside, near San Diego.
According to the Catalina Conservancy, the species' long, slender, silvery bodies and their bright red elongated dorsal fins help explain why ancient mariners mistook oarfish for sea serpents.