Guests on a trip sponsored by Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium and Un-Cruise Adventures got to see not just one, but two oarfish swimming in shallow water in Mexico’s Sea of Cortes last month, aquarium officials tell NBC News.
Video of the encounter was posted to YouTube this week.
Milton Love, a research biologist at the Marine Science Institute at the University of California at Santa Barbara, said it’s almost certain that the oarfish in the video are dying.
“As far as is known all of the ones that somehow get close to shore wind up dying. Their usual haunts are in deeper, quieter waters at least somewhat offshore,” Love told NBC News by email. “Why they wind up near shore is unknown, but likely at least sometimes the fish get carried into these turbulent waters by unexpected currents.”
Click here to read the entire story from NBC News.
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