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Live Rare, Deep-Dwelling Fish Rescued from North Oregon Coast Beach |
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Covering 180 miles of Oregon coast travel: Astoria, Seaside, Cannon Beach, Manzanita, Nehalem, Wheeler, Rockaway, Garibaldi, Tillamook, Oceanside, Pacific City, Lincoln City, Depoe Bay, Newport, Wadport, Yachats & Florence.
1/22/07
Secrets of the Season |
Live Rare, Deep-Dwelling Fish Rescued from North Oregon Coast Beach
photos by Tiffany Boothe
(Seaside,
Oregon) – Another rare oddity hit a north Oregon coast beach this
week, as staff from the Seaside
Aquarium rescued a live fish – the second such rescue in three
months.
Aquarium manager Keith Chandler said on Friday a group of concerned citizens were keeping an eye on a distressed bird at Sunset Beach, just north of Seaside. They were doing so on behalf of a local bird rescue agency. They spotted something moving around near the tide line, and quickly discovered it was a live fish.
“They dug a hole in the sand around it to keep in water,” Chandler said. “It was incredible that was it still alive. That’s extremely rare.”
In October, aquarium staff rescued a live shark from the beach at Seaside. It did not live for more than a few hours.
When an aquarium staff member came to pick it up on Friday, they discovered it was a longnose skate, which looks a little like a stingray. This event is made even more extraordinary by the fact the longnose skate is what is called a benthic fish, meaning it spends most of its time on the ocean floor, or anywhere from 82 feet to 2000 feet below the surface.
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“Both bird and fish were recovered,” Chandler said. “I’m not sure at all what got him stranded. The surf wasn’t that big. This was just one of those freaky things.”
Chandler
said the skate – which is now housed and recovering at the aquarium
– was not in good condition as it had been out of the water some
time. “He doesn’t appear damaged, although he was bumped around
a bit by coming up on the surf,” Chandler said. “He’s
still getting acclimated to his surroundings. He hasn’t eaten, but
that’s common for a fish new to captivity. He’s in pretty
bad shape because of being in the air so long, so it’s hard to say
if he’s going to make it.”
The scientific name of the creature is Raja rhina, said Tiffany Boothe, of the aquarium. They can reach a size of about four feet in total length, although the average size is two to three feet. The one found by aquarium staff is 32 inches.
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“Notice the round dots on the skate pectoral fins,” Boothe said. “These are referred to as eyespots. These eyespots are used to distract potential prey; predators attack the eyespots believing that they are the true eyes of the animal. Skates also bury themselves in the sand to avoid predators. Those who eat this species include large bony fish and sharks.”
Boothe
said the longnose skate feeds on small fish and invertebrates. They have
adapted a unique way of capturing their prey by pouncing on top of their
victim, pinning it to the ocean floor.
Little is known about their life span, Boothe said, although one lived for 13 years.
“It just goes
to show what cool things there are out there for beachcombers,”
Chandler said. “You never know what you’ll find.”
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