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Ratfish generates social media buzz on Vancouver Island

Boneless, glowing creature a common bycatch, but it usually stays in deep waters 91Ƶ fish expert
15166734_web1_190116-CRM-M-RATFISH-3
Vancouver Island resident Rachel Bell snapped photos of this odd-looking fish 91Ƶ identified as a spotted ratfish 91Ƶ before pushing it into deeper water on Jan. 14 at Saratoga Beach, near Campbell River.

Talk about a fish out of water!

An odd-looking fish spotted on Vancouver Island lit up social media this week.

On Tuesday, Campbell River area resident Rachel Bell posted images of the shark-like creature 91Ƶ which has since been identified as a ratfish, a glowing and boneless specimen normally found deep under the sea 91Ƶ to social media.

91ƵCan anyone tell me wtf this thing is?91Ƶ Bell said in the Facebook post.

In the photos, the two-foot long fish appears to be writhing around in shallow water on a sandy beach. It has bulging turquoise-coloured eyes and white spots covering its long, slender rat-like tail.

More than 70 people from the Facebook community soon responded, most of them in agreement that it was a ratfish or spotted ratfish, known among scientists as Hydrolagus colliei.

Some also suggested 91Ƶnuclear fish,91Ƶ 91ƵGodzilla baby91Ƶ and 91Ƶalien fish that91Ƶs supposed to be in the dark deep depths of the ocean.91Ƶ

Dr. Jim Powell, a fish expert and CEO of the Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences in Campbell River, examined the photos for the Mirror and confirmed what dozens of online observers already knew: it91Ƶs a ratfish.

91ƵHydrolagus colliei,91Ƶ said Powell after viewing the images on Wednesday.

91ƵIt91Ƶs a male,91Ƶ he said, pointing to a set 91Ƶclaspers91Ƶ protruding from its underside.

The ratfish, a relative to the shark, has a skeleton made of cartilage 91Ƶ it 91Ƶdoesn91Ƶt have a bone in its body,91Ƶ he said. It91Ƶs not a very common sight on the shore, because it91Ƶs a deep-water fish.

The species doesn91Ƶt have a swim bladder, so if it doesn91Ƶt swim, it sinks, he said.

He declined to speculate on how it ended up on the beach, but said it might have something to do with its health or age.

Powell, a scuba diver, said the glowing fish are often spotted underwater at night.

91ƵThey91Ƶre beautiful, to see them underwater and see them swimming,91Ƶ he said. 91ƵThey91Ƶre just gorgeous because of their iridescence and that large eye, and they really do glow.91Ƶ

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Bell told Black Press that she snapped the photos around noon on Jan. 14 while walking her dogs at Saratoga Beach, near Campbell River.

The fish was about two feet long, she said, and it appeared to have washed up on the shore alive. Someone tried to roll it back into the sea, and Bell pushed it into deeper water.

To avoid a spike on its top dorsal fin, she used her gumboots and the plastic handle of a retractable leash to move the fish, she said.

91ƵI believe it fully regained strength and swam away,91Ƶ Bell said in a Facebook message. 91ƵMade me feel pretty good.91Ƶ

Vancouver Island resident Rachel Bell captured this photo of a spotted ratfish before pushing the odd-looking creature back into the water on Jan. 14 at Saratoga Beach, near Campbell River.

The spotted ratfish, which has a venomous spine, occurs throughout the northeast coastal sections of the Pacific Ocean, from southern Alaska to Baja California, at .

Its numbers are increasing, and it91Ƶs considered a , according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature91Ƶs Red List of Threatened Species.

It91Ƶs from a group of fish known as chimaera or chimera 91Ƶ a name about a creature that resembles a .

The spotted ratfish is the only type of chimaera in Canadian Pacific fisheries waters, according to a published by Fisheries and Oceans Canada in 2007.

91ƵRatfish are a common bycatch (about 700 tonnes per year) within the commercial trawl fishery for skates,91Ƶ a type of ray, according to the document. 91ƵSince ratfish are of no commercial value, they are discarded at sea.91Ƶ

The are also called ghost sharks. The earliest chimaera fossil specimen, a skull, is dated to about 280 million years ago, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

The ancient lineage of the ratfish shows, Powell said.

91ƵIt91Ƶs definitely prehistoric looking, isn91Ƶt it?91Ƶ

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15166734_web1_190116-CRM-M-RATFISH1
Vancouver Island resident Rachel Bell snapped photos of this odd-looking fish 91Ƶ identified as a spotted ratfish 91Ƶ before pushing it into deeper water on Jan. 14 at Saratoga Beach, near Campbell River.




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