Giant Oarfish: A Real-Life Sea Monster Washes Ashore

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The giant oarfish is huge, rarely seen, and might be the origin of the Loch Ness Monster tales. A prime specimen just washed up on shore. Look at this crazy fish!

The giant oarfish hadn’t popped up in Sweden for nearly a century until the ocean spat one out near the town of Bovallstrand this week. This latest oarfish is nearly 11 feet long, but that’s an undersized example: oarfish, also known as the king of herrings, can grow as long as 40 feet and might be the real-life embodiment of the Loch Ness Monster.

“At first we thought it was a big piece of plastic. But then we saw an eye. I went down to check and saw that it was this extremely strange fish,” Kurt Ove Eriksson, the man who found the fish, told the local Svenska Dagbladet. His confusion is understandable: giant oarfish typically dwell some 3000 feet beneath the surface, with little still known about their life and habits.

In February, scientists from Louisiana State University filmed video (above) of a living giant oarfish swimming in the Gulf of Mexico. It is believed it could be the first footage ever taken of one of these beastly fish while its still alive. (Via Yahoo News, BBC)