California 18-Foot Giant Oarfish Had a Host of Tapeworms in its Body

The two rare oarfish found in Southern California earlier this month are offering clues about their habitat.  In a latest announcement, scientists revealed that one of the two oarfish had a host of parasites living in its serpent-like bony body.

 On dissecting the 18-foot long oarfish that was found off the Catalina Island, the researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara, were astonished to see the number of parasites that the fish with gelatinous-like flesh, was hosting. They found large larval tapeworms in the intestines of the fish and a piece of an adult spiny-headed worm was also seen embedded in the intestine, reports the Associated Press.

"Our findings say that these are actually majorly parasitized fish," UC Santa Barbara professor, Armand Kuris, said in a statement. "In this little piece of intestine that we had, we found quite a few of these rather large larval tapeworms. One of them was about 15 centimeters (6 inches) long."

"We only had a small piece of intestine to study that was sent over from Catalina, which is nobody's fault, because who even knows the body parts of an oarfish?" Kuris told the OC Register. "But given how big the fish is, it probably had dozens if not hundreds of parasites in it."

These parasites shed light on what the enormous looking fish consumed, who are its predators and how it lived in the ocean depths, because these organisms occupy different hosts in different stages of their life cycle.

From this the scientists assume that large sharks are generally preying on the oarfish as the tapeworm is usually found in sharks in the adult form and they remain in the larva form until the oarfish is snacked upon and they mature into their next stage.  The second parasite, the spiny headed worm, was present in its adult stage indicating the bony fish feasted on its hosts that are mostly krills or other crustaceans that dwell in deep waters, according to LA Times.

Initially the researchers had taken samples of tissue from the sea serpent's gills, intestine, spleen, stomach and gallbladder, reports LA Times. The tissue samples will be further divided and sent to the scientific community who are keen on knowing more about the oarfish, the most secretive ocean mammal that can dive to a depth of 3,000 feet in deep waters and is rarely sighted alive. Further, the researchers will use the tissue samples to test for toxins.

The marine biologists, who dissected the 14-feet oarfish discovered on a Southern California beach, said it was carrying hundreds of eggs in its 6 feet long ovaries and the healthy female was ripe to spawn.

In the month of October, the waters of Southern California threw up three rare specimens. Besides the two oarfish, the researchers also found a rare saber-tooth whale that washed ashore in Venice.