The oarfish may have gotten its name from either the shape of its body or the shape of the spines that jut out from its pelvic fins used for navigation. It is often seen swimming vertically in the water, pointing its head straight up.
Like many deep-sea creatures, it has large eyes that help it see well in the dark, and “lures” that hang down and off to each side, are ribbon-like and have with a yellow diamond-shaped tip. The bright yellow attracts fish, and the oarfish can then grab them with its protruding mouth.
Pink or red spiny fins extend from its head straight up in an “A” shape as a warning to predators and a type of camouflage. In the ocean, red cannot be seen easily because of the lack of light, so red to a fish that can see it means “danger!”
Is the Loch Ness Monster an Oarfish?
Some scientists are now considering the possibility that the Loch Ness Monster is an oarfish, since the size, shape, and swimming style of the oarfish are so similar to accounts of Loch Ness Monster sightings. These deep-sea fish are hardly ever seen in shallower waters, and Loch Ness is thought to be 750 feet deep.
However, oarfish have been found washed up on beaches, and do sometimes swim closer to the water surface. They are found worldwide in all tropical and temperate waters. About 300 sightings of oarfish have been recorded. This once-rare fish seems to be making its way into other water systems.
There are dozens of Loch Ness Monster sightings every year, and “"South Bay Bessie,” a North American sea monster, is reported to be living in Lake Erie’s western basin near Huron, Ohio. Lake Okanagan in Vancouver, British Columbia has a sea monster named Ogopogo.
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