Albino Ratfish Swarm Puget Sound!
Oh, sure, the report only mentions that they caught one. But you know how it is with rats. You see one and you have hundreds. We figure the same reasoning applies to ratfish. Especially albino ratfish.
The cartilaginous cousin of skates and rays is usually brown or black with white spots so it can blend in with the bottom of the sound, where it uses its rat-like teeth to crush clams, crabs and worms scooped up from the sand and mud.
"They're pretty ugly," said Jon Reum, a University of Washington doctoral student who spent his summer working on the marine survey. "They've got this gnarly spine on their backs, they bite, and they're just a pain to work with."
One drizzling and cold day, researchers off Whidbey Island had just pulled up another net loaded with the bottom dwellers and Reum spied the pearly white ratfish. The foot-long female was estimated to be 2 or 3 years old, making her a teenager in the ratfish world.
"This animal would just stand out like a beacon," says UW fisheries professor Ted Pietsch. "I don't know why it wasn't eaten long before."
In his 40-year-career, Pietsch had never seen an albino fish. "To my knowledge, there has never been another albino ratfish described."
The albino ratfish is almost pure white, with pale green eyes, and has a crystalline layer near the surface of its skin that give it a silvery sheen. In the marine environment, few albinos live long enough to pass on the mutant genes that block production of skin pigment.
We urge the good professor to go to the doctor at once. Ratfish rabies are nothing to fool with. The albino ratfish committed suicide before it could be interviewed, unfortunately. On a bright note, the British market chain of Marks & Spencer is very anxious to procure a supply of 'pearl tuna' and would very much like to speak to professor Pietsch about that. (We expect a commission.)
By feeblemind, Monday, 24 September , 2007 @ 8:03 pm
Perhaps BCC should start a contest to rename the Ratfish with a more appetizing name. I would submit Gourmet Ray.
By Quilly Mammoth, Monday, 24 September , 2007 @ 8:36 pm
Then let the marketing begin. The Puget Sound Ocean Bass?
By Bleepless, Tuesday, 25 September , 2007 @ 8:49 pm
First, albino ratfish. Then, pygmy goats. Is this mere coincidence? OF COURSE NOT!