Terrifying, Pre-Historic-Looking Fish Captured in the Ocean’s Twilight Zone; What Is It?

A fisherman shared his rare catch on Reddit. The pre-historic-looking creature doesn't look like most fish you see in the ocean.

Fisherman Captures Bizarre Fish

A Reddit user shared some snaps of his rare catch online. It looked pre-historic with its enormous eyes, gaping fanged jaws, sail-like fins, and long body, Holr magazine reported.

Several Redditors joked that the fish was a dragon. Another joked that the fisherman who caught it must be a magician.

Following the reveal, the fish was released back into the ocean. One user jokingly said it was sacrificed to Poseidon, the ancient Greek God of the waters, and that it never made home.

Another netizen said the fish would tell the other fish that it had been abducted, but no one would believe its story.

The fish was identified as a lancetfish, a strange deep-sea fish usually found in Alaska marine waters. It was reportedly found in the twilight zone of the ocean.

According to Nature, a twilight zone is a mysterious layer between the sunlit ocean surface and the abyss spanning from just below 200 meters to 1,000 meters deep.

It is also known as the mesopelagic zone or the middle ground between light and shadow. A scientist who spoke with Vox added that the twilight zone is "dark, elusive and temperamental" and challenging to study.

What Is a Lancetfish?

Lancetfish have a pre-historic look, and the dinosaur-worthy scientific genus name, Alepisaurus, means "scaleless lizard." Lancetfish are scaleless and have smooth skin and pores along their lateral line, according to NOAA Fisheries.

This fish can grow up to 7 feet long and is one of the largest deep-sea fish. They can swim to depths more than a mile below the sea surface.

Their flesh is watery and gelatinous and is reportedly not appetizing to humans. However, large predators like sharks, tuna, fur seals, and other lancetfish prey on them.

Since their gelatinous muscles are not built for long chases, scientists believe they are ambush predators. They float and camouflage in the water and attack unsuspecting prey near them.

They are notorious cannibals and feed on many other fish and invertebrates. Among the species, they feed on are fish, squids, and octopuses based on specimens found in their stomachs.

Lancetfish are also hermaphrodites as they possess both male and female organs. However, only little is known about their reproduction.

In a previous report from Science Times, 4-foot lancetfish was washed ashore on the La Jolla Shores. There was a missing chunk from its neck, which was presumably torn off by seagulls feasting on its carcass.

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography took the remains of the fish to study its stomach content, and they found out that it consumed a large number of microplastics.

Rare specimens that wash ashore offer valuable information to the marine science community because they can study them. Scripps suggested not to remove any unusual fish or marine life that washed ashore and contact them instead or let the lifeguard know about the discovery.

Check out more news and information on Fish in Science Times.