THE RARE FISH

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 222, 7 October 1940, Page 4

THE RARE FISH

SPECIES DEFINED MUSEUM DIRECTOR'S EXPLANATION Readers will remember the story, of the rare nsh captured at Matata by Mr Vernon, Timbs, of. Whafca-t ■ tane. The head and a description pt the fish were sent to the Auckland Museum by Mr Y. G. Barton, and the following letter from the Assist-ant-Director, Mr A. B. Powell, clears up the mystery surrounding the unusual creature: "Many thanks for the specimen of the head and. particulars concerning the unusual fish. From these I have no difficulty in identi-. fying it as a very rare deep water species knOwn as Trachypterus . trachypterus, a relative of the Great Oar Fish; "Previous New Zealand specimens were found at Nelson, Purakanur near Dunedin and the Chatham Islands. Normally, tt Y |jahabits the depths of the 1 open ocean, but occasionally, from no properly under* stood cause,, they come to the..surface and be lag weak swimmers ftfO. cast ashore to destruction. Most sea creatures are of delicate structure "\vhich explodes the deepsea pressure myth. After all, when internal and external pressures are equalised, there is no more strain on*a structure than on land."