Rare fish found or rather caught

[Silver_Knight]

A fish rarely seen by humans and weighing in at 300 pounds became the center of a bizarre fish story in Cabo San Lucas, where the "mystery" fish wound up getting stolen.

The fish was described by the Pisces Sportfishing Fleet blog as having a dorado-shaped head, tuna-type body, wahoo tail (with half of it missing) and a snapper color. Pisces eventually identified the fish as a louvar or Luvaras Imperialis, a species last seen in Cabo waters some 22 years ago.

The boatful of fishermen who captured the rare beast knew it was something special, yet it became the fish that got away--stolen from under their noses.

As related by Capt. Josue Moreno to Pisces, the Marina II headed out for a half day of fishing when the crew and fishing tourists came across a huge fish circling on the top of the water.

"I thought it was a red snapper or tuna," Moreno told Pisces. "So we went over to investigate and saw this really weird fish, like something we had never seen before. It was still alive, but almost dead, struggling to breathe. So we gaffed it and had a really hard time getting it onto the swimstep. The tourists on board were amazed and kept asking us what it was, but we had no idea."

The Marina II was said to have stopped to catch a few dorado before heading in to have the big, mystery fish weighed and filleted.

Only that's not exactly what happened.

As Pisces Sportfishing Fleet found out on Tuesday, the tale Moreno told was a lie.

The real story surfaced when Pisces spoke with angler Joe Estrada of San Antonio, Texas. He and some friends had chartered the boat Dr. Pescado II. Less than four miles from the Lighthouse off Cabo, they spotted the mystery fish circling on top of the water, they gaffed it and they tied it onto the swimstep.

"We wanted to head back with the fish," Estrada told Pisces. "We knew it was an unusual catch." But the captain said, "the dorado bite is good, let's stay and fish and I will find somebody to take it back."

So, not wanting the fish to sit out in the sun while they were fishing, the captain radioed the Marina II, and its captain agreed to take the fish in.

"Our skipper, Oscar, told the other skipper to take it back for us and put it on ice. You can hear him saying that on our video," Estrada told Doug Olander of Sport Fishing.

The video below shows how the fish was transferred from one boat to the other. The fish was hooked to a buoy. The Dr. Pescado II left it floating for the Marina II, which scooped up the fish and headed in to port.

It was the last Estrada and his fishing group saw of the fish. As you can see in the photo above, Capt. Moreno had a photo taken with the fish before immediately filleting and distributing it to people around the marina. When the Dr. Pescado II returned to port to check on the fish, it was long gone.

"I like the fact that everybody was fed," Estrada told Pisces. "I hate to see fish go to waste and I am glad that so many families got fed."

But he sure wishes he had been able to take a few fillets home with him.

"I found out that they are really good eating," Estrada told Sport Fishing. "And I love to cook fish. That was heartbreaking."

Estrada told Pisces that his skipper Oscar "felt betrayed," though we can't help but wonder if Oscar might have gotten any of those fillets. Hmmm.

See Estrada's entire YouTube video here. We start the video below at 1:25, right when they describe how they're going to hand the fish off. "Let it be known we found the fish...We caught this fish, the rarest fish in the world," you can hear someone say. And, appropriately, you also hear, "Adios."

[DeviousOne]

Looks like a dolphin got to it! Smh..

[Kuro]

Looks like a fish that ate a fish that ate a dolphin..lmao

[Lethal_NFS]

Is that a terminator fish?

[F34R]

Dats a bigun!

[Fon]

Huge fish!.

[Cybertox]

Looks strange cause its like a normal fish enlarged 30 times. I really like all this mysterious creatures which live under the water. I would like manking to find even more strange fishes and maybe even something shocking.

[podsaurus]

I didn't read the entire article but why didn't they just take the fish back themselves?

[claud3]

It's a tuna fish and they do grow big

[SHAZZMAZZ]

I like fish swimming around not to be out of water

And if it is rare then y is it hanging dead killing anything is upseting to me but killing a rare fish is not right and how do we no there be the same as that one
thats like me finding a rare bird thats only one in the world and killing it when really i would take a photo and never tell anyone where i saw it

[claud3]

Here is another

[F34R]

I like fish swimming around not to be out of water

And if it is rare then y is it hanging dead killing anything is upseting to me but killing a rare fish is not right and how do we no there be the same as that one
thats like me finding a rare bird thats only one in the world and killing it when really i would take a photo and never tell anyone where i saw it

How it was found wasn't purposely for killing a rare fish. If you took a photo it would be known rather quickly where it was seen. Ya know, if you shared it.


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[SHAZZMAZZ]

Here is another

NO put the fish back alive

[F34R]

People eat fish. People eat plants, animals... Etc. you want them to eat it alive?


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[Cybertox]

People eat fish. People eat plants, animals... Etc. you want them to eat it alive?


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He means rare animals not regular ones...

[F34R]

He means rare animals not regular ones...

Read his other posts...


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[Cybertox]

Read his other posts...


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He says that rare animals should not get killed. He is talking about rare animals only and not in general. However its very hard to understand what he means as his language isnt really perfect.

[Cuguy]

I like fish swimming around not to be out of water

And if it is rare then y is it hanging dead killing anything is upseting to me but killing a rare fish is not right and how do we no there be the same as that one
thats like me finding a rare bird thats only one in the world and killing it when really i would take a photo and never tell anyone where i saw it

But in this instance, the fish was already dying on the water's surface. They didn't intentionally kill it for sport, rather they took advantage of a situation where the fish was going to die anyway.

[Fon]

Here is another

I love watching, River Monsters so this isn't all that surprising to see a cat fish of such scale.

[claud3]

Rare or not, animal's are food

Plants are food, humans are food. That's the cycle of life, we eat each other and survive

[Cybertox]

Rare or not, animal's are food

Plants are food, humans are food. That's the cycle of life, we eat each other and survive

If you would have found nessie would you eat it?

[F34R]

He says that rare animals should not get killed. He is talking about rare animals only and not in general. However its very hard to understand what he means as his language isnt really perfect.

Read this post... that is two different aspects. He likes fish swimming, not to be out of water, AND if it's rare, why is it hanging. So, no, he's not talking about rare animals only.

I like fish swimming around not to be out of water

And if it is rare then y is it hanging dead killing anything is upseting to me but killing a rare fish is not right and how do we no there be the same as that one
thats like me finding a rare bird thats only one in the world and killing it when really i would take a photo and never tell anyone where i saw it

If you would have found nessie would you eat it?

Hell yeah! Nessie steaks!!!

[Cybertox]

I like fish swimming around not to be out of water

This sentence is so freaking fucked up. You can understand whatever you want by reading it. It doesnt even make sense.

[Silver_Knight]

I like fish swimming around not to be out of water

This sentence is so freaking fucked up. You can understand whatever you want by reading it. It doesnt even make sense.

Indeed. There is something fishy about it.

[Cybertox]

Indeed. There is something fishy about it.

Couldnt describe it any better lol