Published on 2003-03-03 by Mark VandeWettering
I love to watch nature documentaries and the like on PBS, but most of them go over information that has been rehashed a million times. But just when you get complacent, you realize that there are still things out there which are _big_ and yet largely unknown. One of the most unusual is the [Oarfish, Regalecus glesne][1]. Besides being huge (reported lengths of 17 meters, verified lengths of 8 meters), the oarfish has a beautiful silvery body and a long thin shape which is very odd.
It has been photographed by [Jonathan Bird][2], and also by Navy divers (who caught it on [video!][3]).
I also recall seeing video of a barely alive specimen that washed up on the beach, but wasn’t able to find it online.