Where does the terrifying legend of the oarfish come from?
The oarfish, also known as the messenger of the dragon palace, the white dragon king, the dragon king fish, the hundred-ox, the earthquake fish and so on, is a deep-sea fish of the family Regalecidae in the order Lampriformes of the class Actinopterygii. It is the longest bony fish in the ocean, with a red dorsal fin that stands as tall as a two-story building and begins at the top of its head like a mane crest. People usually think of them as monsters that sweep across the seafloor and destroy everything. Let us take a look below at the terrifying legend of the oarfish!
Morphological characteristics of the oarfish
The body of the oarfish is laterally compressed and elongated into a ribbon shape, with a small head resembling that of a horse. The body is bare and scaleless, with 5 to 6 rows of wart-like protrusions on each side. The dorsal fin is red, with no fin spines, and the dorsal fin base is long; the first 1 to 5 dorsal fin rays are often filamentous in color. The pelvic fins have become a pair of filamentous long fin rays, with enlarged, willow-leaf-shaped tips, no anal fin, and the caudal fin is not connected to the dorsal fin. The whole body of the fish is silvery gray with blue-black markings, the head is blue, and the fins are red. The body length can reach up to 15 m, but is commonly about 3 m, and the known maximum weight can reach 272 kg.
The terrifying legend of the oarfish
Legend says that in the deep sea there are terrifying "sea serpents" and the "Loch Ness Monster." These monsters are enough to make brave and fearless sailors and even pirates around the world tremble with fear; they are monsters that can sweep across the seafloor and destroy everything. Even more chilling is that whenever a "sea serpent" appears, an earthquake or tsunami follows immediately in that place. In most legends, the appearance of the "sea serpent" became an omen of an inauspicious event. For thousands of years, the "sea serpent" has hung over the hearts of all seafarers like a huge shadow. To this day, some people still call it the "messenger of the devil." It is said that these terrifying monsters are actually all oarfish.
Historical records of the oarfish
Aristotle wrote in his History of Animals in the fourth century BC: "In Libya, the sea serpents are all very huge. Sailors sailing along the coast said that they had also encountered sea serpent attacks during their voyages." In fact, this legendary giant beast is not any kind of sea serpent, but a deep-sea giant ribbonfish, which scientists call the oarfish - the longest bony fish in the ocean. Because this giant ribbonfish, up to 18 m long, has always lived in deep-sea waters and is difficult to catch and observe, people know very little about it, and for thousands of years it has been full of mystery.
In 2005, U.S. Marine Corps Captain Ridgeway and Sergeant Blythes sailed a sailboat across the Atlantic to build endurance. Before dawn on July 25, Blythes was sound asleep, and Ridgeway, who was steering, suddenly heard a strange sound from the starboard side. So he turned his head and looked toward the sea, and saw a huge monster with a twisted body. The phosphorus light on the sea surface set off its outline, making it look as if a string of neon lights were hanging on it. The monster was enormous, about 15 m long, and was swimming rapidly toward them. Ridgeway was instantly stunned by the scene before him. At this moment, the monster had already rushed straight over and heavily struck the sailboat. The violent impact made the sailboat begin to rock left and right, immediately waking Blythes from his deep sleep. The two hurriedly took out weapons to prepare to fight the monster, but after the impact the monster suddenly dived into the deep water and mysteriously disappeared. Ridgeway later recalled that this monster was silvery white all over, with a large head like a horse's head, but without ears or horns, decorated with white stripes on the forehead, and with horse-mane-like things growing below the neck. Its fins exceeded 50 cm, thin and blunt, like a set square. The monster's appearance was truly terrifying. This scene could not help but make the two still-shaken U.S. Marine Corps members think of the legendary "sea serpent."
On August 14, 1817, many people saw a very huge sea serpent appear in the area of Gloucester Harbor, Massachusetts, USA. The New England Linnaean Society organized a special committee to investigate the matter and took sworn testimony from people who had seen the sea serpent. According to the testimony, the sea serpent's "head was as big as a four-bushel barrel, its body was as thick as a puncheon, and its length was at least forty feet."
On October 11, 1848, after the British warship HMS Daedalus returned to Plymouth Harbor from the East Indies, the ship submitted a report. The report stated that at 5 p.m. on August 6, when the ship was in the South Atlantic about 300 li from Africa, "Midshipman Sartorius saw an extremely strange object swimming rapidly toward the warship from directly astern." Sartorius immediately reported it to his superiors. The captain, two officers and other personnel rushed over upon hearing the news, and saw a large sea serpent swimming right in front of the ship. Witnesses estimated that the exposed part of the sea serpent alone was sixty feet long, with a head and neck diameter of about fifteen or sixteen inches, and it passed HMS Daedalus at a speed of more than ten miles per hour, swimming toward the southwest. Captain McQuahe said that when it passed, it was "very close to the side below the stern."
In September 2006, a dying oarfish appeared on the sea surface near Australia. Possibly because of illness, it no longer had the strength to dive into the deep sea and could only float motionless on the water. This oarfish was more than 8 m long, with a laterally compressed body elongated into a ribbon shape, and a head like a horse's head. Its body, like those of the much smaller ribbonfish, shone with silver light, and above its entire body there was a bright red dorsal fin. After nearby fishermen discovered it, they dragged it to the shore with hooks, and soon afterward this oarfish died. After the news spread, it immediately aroused great enthusiasm among scientists. For a time, marine zoologists from all over the world gathered in Australia and carried out research on this unexpectedly obtained oarfish. In this way, the oarfish slowly came out of the deep sea and entered people's field of vision.
On April 8, 2014, 2 oarfish up to 15.2 m long astonishingly appeared in the shallow waters of Cortes Beach in Mexico, frightening nearby tourists. A group of oarfish swam into the shallow waters of the Sea of Cortes in Mexico, among which the vast majority were 4.5 m long, while another 2 had body lengths reaching 15.2 m. The tourists were panic-stricken by the arrival of these two giants. It is reported that these 2 oarfish are the longest bony fish in the world so far.