Two Australians may have landed their biggest catch yet when they caught one of the world’s rarest fish during a charter boat trip in the Top End.
An online post of the pair’s incredibly rare catch showed the two men holding a giant oarfish, which has a horse-like head, dinner plate-sized eyes and a long, slender body, after reeling it in.
Captain Curtis Peterson of Tiwi Islands Adventures led the charter group on a moonlit session off Melville Island last week.
The oarfish, which swims vertically at depths of up to 1,000 m, is also known as the “fish at the end of the world” because, according to legend, higher powers send a warning signal to those who see it.
An expert said the ancient-looking creature is a rare catch in the Top End.
“This is the first time I’ve heard of anyone catching a fish like that up here,” NT News Fishing columnist Alex Julius said.
“It’s also very rare to get one of these fish; most of them wash up dead on the shore.”
But on the downside, he said oarfish are not very popular at the table.
Curtis Peterson of Tiwi Islands Adventures and a young fisherman with his rare catch.
“Apparently they’re not very good to eat either, they have a gelatinous taste,” he said.
An image of the catch on Fishing Australia TV’s Facebook page has had 1300 comments and 470 shares since it was posted last Friday night.
Some wondered if it was AI-generated, but others saw the bright side of it.
“It’s Puff, the magical sea dragon that lives under the sea, isn’t it?” one commenter said.
Another added: “Of course it’s a seahorse that refused to go extinct when the world wiped out the dinosaurs.”
This comment had a hint of Australian jollity about it.
“I’d call it Bogan’s Barracuda. It looks like the fish version of the guy in the bar who always has a crazy story and an even crazier mullet,” he said.
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