ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A commercial fishing boat hauled in what may have been one of the oldest creatures in Alaska a giant rockfish estimated to be about a century old.

The 44-inch, 60-pound female shortraker rockfish was caught last month by the catcher-processor Kodiak Enterprise as it trawled for pollock 2,100 feet below the surface, south of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea.

The Seattle-based vessel, owned by Trident Seafoods, pulled up an estimated 75 tons of pollock and 10 bright-orange rockfish.

Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle measured, photographed and documented the fish. They removed an ear bone, the otolith, which contains growth rings similar to rings in the trunks of trees.

They estimate the rockfish was 90 to 115 years old.

That's toward the upper end of the known age limit for shortraker rockfish, said Paul Spencer of the science center. Other estimates put the fish's maximum age at 157 years, Spencer said.

The contents of the rockfish's stomach were examined and scientists took tissue samples to measure her reproductive potential. "The belly was large," Spencer said. "The ovaries were full of developing embryos."

Scientists said the specimen is not the biggest on record. A 47-inch shortraker rockfish was recorded, according to the book "Fishes of Alaska."

Kind of looks like a big old bucketmouth, doesn't it?

Wow. Now that's interesting!  

wow....kinda weird that that little old tail on her could move that big ol body around

read about that this morning but your right burley it does look like a big bucketmouth.

GBF

Isn't that amazeing.  If only that fish could talk.   Speaking of old fish does anyone remember years ago a fish called  and this is spelled wrong, Cellacanth caught off the coast of africa it was supposed to be a really old and extinct fish.

Is that a senko hanging from it's mouth?

kybass,

there was just a show on the other day about the smithsonian, and their fish collection, including the cellocanth.  It was incredible.  Since then they have actually filmed then at depth, in their natural enviroment!

Thanks for the  info RecMar I hadn't heard about them for a long time. I wish I would have seen that show.  I did see a picture of one once There ugly.  Kinda makes you wonder what all is swiming in the worlds oceans that we don't know about

funny you should mention that KY...I read an article somewhere once that said we know more about outer space than we do about our deep oceans...and there aren't even any fish in outer space.

You know there was a Japanese Koi that was alleged to live for 226 years before it passed away.  Here is the link, its name is Hanako http://www.arborman.com/koioldes.htm .