The Enigmatic Life of the Giant Oarfish

selim12 August 23, 2024 0 Comments

The giant oarfish (Regalecus glesne) is a species of oarfish of the family Regalecidae.This fish is found worldwide except polar regions.Other names of this fish include Pacific oarfish, king of herrings, ribbonfish, and streamer fish. It’s called giant for a reason! Let’s discover why!

Table of Contents

Habitat Of The Giant Oarfish:

This fish is found from the tropics to middle latitudes ranging epipelagic to mesopelagic zones as deep as 1000 meters .It’ categorized as heavy migrator following it’s primary food source!

Description And Physical Characteristics:

The giant oarfish can reach 8 meters of maximum length but the common length is 3 meters.I told you,it’s giant for a reason. It’s the world’s longest ray-finned fish with a ribbon shape on adults .The color is silver with blue and dark spots with crimson fins.When you see this fish,it ressembles a sea serpent a lot.

It has 400 or more dorsal fin rays with the first 12 focused on the head with a brightening color.It has also a small head with a protrusible jaw.It has no teeth.The organs are focused on the end of the head for protection.

Behavior and Reproduction Of The Giant Oarfish:

It swims using dorsal fins,sometimes in a vertical position in a columnar orientation,tail downward! The specification include larvae with an elongated body with rays extending from the occipital crest and a pelvic fin.The larvae skin is transparent with few dark spots.The caudal fin has also four rays that are not present in adults. The larvae specimen was measured to be 103.4 mm with a body height of around 7 mm.

Diet Of The Giant Oarfish:

The giant oarfish primarily feeds on zooplankton, which includes tiny animals like copepods and krill,Euphausiids and small fish.

LifeCycle And Conservation Status:

The feritilized eggs hatch after 18 days.The newely born larvae has face downward with pectoral fins.The hatched larvae dies four days later.They spawn from july to December.Eggs are 2.5 mm large floating near the surface before hatching.The giant oarfish has a reproductive phase with spawning perioed on the end of the summer with no reproduction in the rest of the year.

The giant oarfish (Regalecus glesne) is currently listed as “Least Concern” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This status is due to its widespread distribution in the world’s oceans and the lack of significant threats to its population.