Recently I saw a picture of a couple of people holding up a large, long sea creature that had an almost horselike head and seemed to me as though it must be a hoax. Upon following the thread a bit, however, I discovered that it was in fact real: a King-of-the-Salmon ribbonfish, Trachipterus altivelis. Here is one of them:

There are a number of different species of ribbonfish, falling within the larger category of lampriformes or ray-finned fish. The King-of-the-Salmon generally grows up to six feet in length, with its long dorsal fin running the length of its body. It is found in areas of the Pacific off the coast of the Americas, from far north to south. They live fairly deep, so are not often seen by humans. On the name, from the Wikipedia article:

Its common name comes from the legends of the Makah people west of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which hold that this fish leads the salmon annually to their spawning grounds. Catching or eating king-of-the-salmon was forbidden, as it was feared killing one would stop the salmon run.

I came across a Marine Detective page with lots of interesting images, my favorite two being this wonderfully mythic vintage photo:

…and this brief video, which as noted shows a different variety of fish, but which demonstrates a mouth-elongation capability that seems to underpin the horselike look of many of the specimens found by people–apparently they don’t always appear so distinct from your typical fish, facewise:

🐟 The header image, the work of one Awkward Salmonid, carries the description “A biologist measures and releases a King of the Salmon fish (Trachipterus altivelis) that was washed ashore.” Resized and cropped by me.

Have a swimming Sunday!