Deep-sea fish equipped with fangs have been mysteriously washing up on beaches in Oregon over the past few weeks.
“No one is sure why they are washing ashore,” said a Facebook Post from Oregon State Parks of the lancetfish sightings. Some have helped the creatures that wash ashore get back into the water.
Typically, lancetfish live in tropical and subtropical waters, but they can swim as far as the Bering Sea in the Northern Pacific to feed. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 10 have been found in the Bering Sea since 1982, as well as two in the Gulf of Alaska and four near the Aleutian Islands.
“Lancetfish look like they swam out of prehistoric time,” said the NOAA. “Features include gaping fanged jaws, enormous eyes, a sail-like fin, and long, slithery body.”
This description may sound creepy, but the NOAA does not call the fish an invasive species, such as the Sea Lamprey present in the Great Lakes region. Those eel-like Sea Lamprey feed off the body fluids of other fish, often killing them.
Lancetfish can grow to be 7 feet long, making them some of the largest deep-sea fish. Lancetfish are scale-less and their scientific name means “scale-less lizard.”
While lancetfish flesh is described as watery, gelatinous, and unappetizing to humans as food, the fish’s own diet is very wide ranging. Stomach contents of the fish have revealed plastics, undigested fish and even other lancetfish.
“Lancetfish are notorious cannibals,” said the NOAA. “They also feed voraciously on many other fish and invertebrates. Many new species descriptions of fish, squids, and octopuses are based on specimens from lancetfish stomachs.”
Scientists seek out the fish due to a quirk in their digestion – food in their stomachs is often found in a nearly pristine state. This has helped researchers learn more about the impact of marine debris, as other large predators such as sharks and tuna feed on lancetfish.
“Based on the lack of digestion, scientists speculate that lancetfish may bulk feed. This means they eat as much as they can whenever they find food, then digest it later when they need it,” said the NOAA.
Researchers also know that lancetfish possess both male and female sex organs simultaneously, but they “know very little about lancetfish reproduction and development,” per the administration. In recent years, scientists have been collecting more lancetfish samples to study the species’ DNA, growth patterns and more.
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