An extremely rare, giant serpent-like creature from the deep sea recently washed up on a New Zealand beach. According to media outlet Stuff, a marine biologist was relaxing on a Dunedin beach, when she noticed a beachgoer investigating something in the shallows. Dr Bridie Allan, of the University of Otago, investigated the mysterious discovery by Isaac Williams and instantly recognised the species.
“As soon as I saw it I knew it was an oarfish,” Dr Allan said, as per Stuff. She shared the video the fish on her Twitter handle.
The video shows the fish lurking in the shallows. "Woah, it feels like a shark," Mr Williams can be heard saying. "It feels like a dolphin thing, look how long it is,” he added. The fish's gills can also be seen flapping slightly as it fights for air.
Viral Video Shows Jupiter's Size In Comparison To Other Planets, Internet Calls It "Fascinating"
Oarfish is a serpent-like sea creatures and they are normally found in deep water, as per the report. Dr Allan said that an oarfish to be floating in the shallows of Aramoana Beach was not a good sign. She informed that the fish was alive but very clearly distressed. “It was very weakly alive,” Dr Allan said, adding that the fish was around 3.6 metres long.
Isaac Williams tried to help the oarfish start swimming, however, it kept on floating on the surface. Dr Allan said that the fish wouldn't have survived as it was on its “last legs”. She added that there were some deepwater canyons off the coast of Otago but whether it came from there is “pure speculation”. Separately, speaking to Newsweek, Dr Allan said that she did not end up taking the fish as a specimen, but she wished she had done.
According to Stuff, Emma Burns, curator of natural sciences at Otago Museum, said that one of the first specimens of oarfish was collected from another Otago beach, Moeraki, and sent to London in 1883. The specimen is now part of the Natural History Museum collection.
Viral Video | Enormous Black Mamba Snake Filmed Crossing Road in South Africa After Being Run Over By Car
Ms Burns also said that pictures of the oarfish found by Mr Willams showed that it had lost some of the distinctive silver along its skin, suggesting that it had been bumping into things before it got washed up.
Watch: Pastry Chef Creates Flying "Chocolate House" Resembling Disney's Movie Up On CCTV, Gym Trainer Picks Up Club, Hits Mumbai Man On Head During Workout "Every Time I Try To Eat Healthy" - Video Creator's Editing Skills Amaze Internet Bangladesh Imposes Curfew, Deploys Military As 105 Die In Protests "Jindal Group Executive Showed Porn, Groped Me On Flight": Woman To NDTV Over 300 Indian Students Return Home As 105 Bangladeshis Killed In Protests Joe Biden Is The Best Person To Take On Trump, Says His Campaign Wife Among Two Jailed For Life For Man's Murder In Gurugram: Cops 1,100 Flights Cancelled In US As Microsoft Outage Disrupts Operations Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.