What Fish Is This?

[mrmoshe]

Big mysterious fish beached in Tasmania, Australia [

A family fom Bruny Island, south of Hobart, is waiting for the CSIRO to officially identify a strange fish which has washed up on a local beach.

Jenny Martyn’s daughter was with a group of people who found a large dead fish floating in shallow water at Adventure Bay yesterday.

The fish is around two metres in length, shaped like an eel, with a blunt face, huge eye and a dorsal fin that runs the length of its body from head to tail.

Mrs Martyn believes it is a rare crested band fish which lives around 1,000 metres underwater, but she has put it in the freezer until scientists can have a look.

“We’re waiting for them to get in contact with us to go from there,” she said.

“We’d like to find out a bit more about the fish, where its actually originally found and possibly why it’s come into Adventure Bay.”

[Davemmm]

Theres a fair bet that Mrs Martyn is right in her call of crested band fish.

Google tells me they are from the family Lophotidae.

And then the museum shows me the picture you have.

http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fishfact.../llacepedei.htm

Edited December 26, 2006 by davemmm

[mrmoshe]

I agree 100%

Cheers,

Pete.

[Laredo]

those look like they may be holes from cookie-cutter sharks

[Flattieman]

those look like they may be holes from cookie-cutter sharks

Good point, Laredo. I'm pretty confident that they are.

Flattieman.

[james1990]

It's almost got the figue of a dolphinfish, but the dolphinfish is more yellow/green in colour and much better looking.

cheers james

[PPSGT]

There's probably no great mystery on how it floated into the bay -

It most likely arrived on the back of a trawler as "by catch"

Then dumped back into the sea dead, due to its lack of commercial value or

because the boats license is not endorsed for scale fish.

Jason

[netic]

James your right it does have a simalar look to a dollie...there are some very strange fish in our seas thats for sure

[sniper]

the fish is a red indian fish resembling a red indian chief

sniper