Oarfish
Oarfish in progress
Artist: Isabel Foster and Pat Stephenson
Fish Profile:
Oarfish – Regalecus glesne
Conservation status
The giant Oarfish is the longest ‘bony’ fish alive and can grow up to 8 metres in length. (Bony fish have skeletons made up of bone tissue)
The IUCN class them as Least Concern and do not report any specific environmental danger.
However Oarfish are impacted by ocean plastic pollution, accidental bycatch, and rising water temperatures due to climate change.
Oarfish are sometimes called ‘doomsday fish’ because, according to Japanese folklore, they have been seen as harbingers of natural disasters such as earthquakes. Rare sightings of Oarfish before seismic events have led people to believe this is a warning, but there is no scientific evidence to support this.