ENCINITAS: Giant fish washes ashore in Leucadia
Some surfers and beachgoers in Leucadia witnessed an unusual sight last week when a giant, brightly colored Opah fish washed up on shore.
“It’s like having an alien wash up in your backyard,” said Jon Schwartz, a local teacher and deep-sea fisherman. “It’s like ET or something.”
The exotic fish usually lives in deep waters, but it has been showing up on the local coast more often lately, said Phil Hastings, a professor of marine biology at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and curator of the institute’s marine vertebrate collection.
Hastings said it’s unclear why more Opah —— also known as Moonfish —— are showing up on the coast, but said it might be because of warmer temperatures in the ocean. The fish live around the world, mostly in tropical waters, he said.
Surfer Scott Williams saw the dead fish as it floated to shore at Beacon’s Beach early on Sept. 24 and quickly snapped some photos of it with his cell phone before leaving it there.
COMMENT: Cool picture!