A young angler revived a young oarfish last week, giving the fish a second chance and enjoying his own chance of a lifetime.
Noah Thompson, a 24-year-old from Austin, Texas, and his younger brother Jacob were heading down the shore in Mexico, off Baja’s east shore, and the older brother spotted something silvery on the sand. Noah knew immediately what he’d found and yelled for his younger brother.
On the shore, and surprisingly still alive, was a small oarfish. Noah’s familiarity with the exotic fish meant he knew that it was a breed normally found at least 660 feet beneath the surface and that it can grow to be 36 feet long.
Thompson pulled the fish back into the water and moved it back and forth to get water flowing back through its gills, the saw it stabilize itself and swim off into deeper water.
While the fish did disappear in the right direction, there is, unfortunately, no guarantee it survived. Noah told For The Win! Outdoors, “Hopefully he’s got a lot more time ahead of him.”
