giant rattail

The giant rattail is the outsized member of a deep-sea group whose fish usually fit in two hands. This one reaches 210 cm and 86 kg, with a common size of about 85 cm. It lives in the cold deep water of the north Pacific, mostly between 700 and 1,100 m, and hunts squid, fish and shrimp on and above the bottom. Young fish drift in open water and settle onto the seabed as they grow.

Also known as: giant grenadier, giant rattail, pectoral rattail, giant rattail, pectoral rattail, grenadier

Rattails are a look-alike crowd, and the tapering tail is shared by all of them. Two things separate this one. Size comes first: an animal this long is beyond the reach of most of the group. Then look inside the open mouth and at the gill chamber, both of which are black in this species rather than pale.

The head and body are grey-brown, and every scale carries a dark rear edge, so the whole fish is covered in a fine net-like pattern. The fins and the lateral line, the faint sensory stripe along the side, are darker than the rest. The body ends in the long, pointed, whip-like tail that gives rattails their name. The snout is low and pushes out a little past a large mouth.