Species: Regalecus glesne, Oarfish, King Of Herrings

Regalecus glesne Ascanius, 1772

Oarfish, King Of Herrings

Body extremely elongate, strongly compressed, a giant ribbon; mouth with protrusible top jaw, maxilla broad; teeth on both jaws usually absent, minute and widely spaced if present; gill rakers 33-47; dorsal fin very long (414-449 in fish with a complete tail, 90-102 rays to end of abdomen), from top of head almost to tail tip, front rays with skin flaps, form 2 crests up to 1m or more long, 1st crest with 6-8 rays united by membrane, 2nd crest with 5-11 rays not united by membrane to each other or to other rays; anal fin absent; pelvics with one, highly elongate ray, ornamented with colored skin flaps, reaching to vent; tail fin usually absent in adults, with 3-4 rays in juveniles, the middle 3 robust and elongate; scales absent, except for tubular lateral line scales; body with 6-7 longitudinal rows of tubercles of various sizes.

Head blue to blackish; body bright silver, with oblique blackish dashes or bars, or round spots over all or part of the body ; dorsal and pelvic fins crimson red.

Reaches 800 cm, and 272 kg

Epipelagic and mesopelagic

Depth range 15-1000 m, usually less than 200 m.

Circumglobal, mainly subtropical; Newfoundland to Uruguay