Opah, also known as moonfish, are rarely caught off the coast of Washington State, which is part of the reason this 35.67-pounder is a new state record.
Jim Watson, an angler from Idaho, caught the fish in September while on a tuna charter 45 miles offshore from Westport, Wash., which sits on a peninsula in the Pacific roughly halfway between Seattle and Portland.
The fish replaces a 2013 record that weighed 28.18 pounds. However, it is rarity in the Pacific Northwest rather than size that makes this fish notable. Opah in their typical tropical and subtropical waters, are thought to reach weights heavier than 200 pounds. The world record recreational catch is a 181-pound 2014 fish caught on a charter out of southern California in Mexican waters.
“We rarely see these fish and hear about one caught every five years or so,” Mark Coleman, owner of All Rivers & Saltwater Charters in Westport, told the Seattle Times.
Opah showing up off Washington State is usually connected to warm-water events such as El Nino. Even where they are caught more frequently, around Hawaii or southern California, opah are mostly a rare incidental catch for anglers who are tuna fishing. Most opah are caught by longliners, which accounts for a robust seafood market for the fish in Hawaii.
They are thought to be solitary fish, known to travel and feed with—and like—tuna. One last fact: opah are warm blooded… weird.