It’s not often we as Coastal Dwellers get to see a Creature-from-the-Deep. But occasionally something washes ashore that raises a lot of attention. Over the last several weeks reports have come in to marine researchers and biologists about the discovery of several up to four-foot long, big eyed, with fangs and a scaleless skin fish that have appeared on beaches from Bandon to Nehalem along a 200-mile stretch of the Oregon Coast. The latest discovery was at the Roads End Beach, just north of Lincoln City on the Central Coast. In each discover, researchers were sought out for answers, but the local answer was nearly a shrug of the shoulders with hands out to the side. Not sure or unclear. However, another scientist at the California Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Ben Frable, says it’s not uncommon, but he also adds it’s not clear why the tropical to subtropical Lancefish is washing ashore. He calls it “open research.” According to NOAA Fisheries, a Lancetfish can grow to more than seven-feet in length and swim at depths at more than a mile. It can also travel as far north as the Bering Sea in search of food.
