The Fish of a Lifetime

Video taken by Cheqa Rogers

In late March a Longnose Lancetfish (Alepisaurus ferox) washed ashore in Fort Worden State Park. Cheqa, our high school intern, set about documenting and studying this fish. Above is the video he took of the fish after placing it in one of our holding tanks. We are not sure why this normally deep water fish washed ashore, though at the time it was clear it had already suffered severe skin lacerations and was in poor health. Sadly the Lancetfish did not make it through the night. Cheqa lovingly referred to the Lancetfish as "the fish of a lifetime" and began packing the remains to be frozen until further use.

Lucky for us Cheqa decided to dissect the fish last Friday right in our exhibit while we were open! He found some interesting things inside. Here are a few of the pictures:

All photos taken by volunteer docent Moh

Among the unidentifiable items in the stomach we found: a couple feathers, a piece of kelp, part of a fish skeleton and a couple pieces of plastic. This provides further evidence of the harm plastic is having on our marine environment.