The horror legend of the royal belt fish

The imperial belt fish is also known as the Dragon Palace Messenger, the White Dragon King, the Dragon King Fish, the hundred Niu, the earthquake Fish, and so on. It is one of the deep-sea fishes of the Radiopteridae. The longest bony fish in the ocean, with red dorsal fins as high as two stories, begins with a mane crown on the top of the head. People usually think that they are monsters that sweep across the sea floor and destroy everything. Let's take a look at the horror legend of the royal belt fish.

Morphological characteristics of Trichiurus mongolica

The royal belt fish body is flat on the side, elongated in a banded shape, the head is as small as a horse's head, the body is exposed without scales, and there are 5 to 6 rows of tumor-like processes on each side of the body. The dorsal fin is red, no fin spine, the base of the dorsal fin is long, and the fin face of the first 1 to 5 dorsal fins is often filamentous. The ventral fin becomes a pair of long filamentous fins, the end of which is dilated like a willow leaf, without anal fin, and the caudal fin is not connected to the dorsal fin. The body of the fish is silver-gray with blue-black markings, the head is blue and the fins are red. The maximum body length can be up to 15 meters, but it is generally about 3 meters, and the maximum known weight is 272 kilograms.

The horror legend of the royal belt fish

Legend has it that there are terrifying "sea snakes" and "Loch Ness monsters" in the deep sea. These monsters are enough to frighten brave sailors and even pirates all over the world. They can sweep the bottom of the sea and destroy all monsters. What is even more creepy is that every time the appearance of the "sea snake" is followed by an earthquake or tsunami, in most legends, the emergence of the "sea snake" has become a harbinger of ominous events. For thousands of years, the Sea Snake has been like a huge shadow on the minds of all seafarers. To this day, some people still call him "the messenger of the devil". It is said that these horrible monsters are actually halibut.

Historical records of the imperial belt fish

Aristotle wrote in the History of Animals in the fourth century BC: "in Libya, sea snakes are huge. Sailors sailing along the coast said that they had also been attacked by sea snakes during the voyage. " In fact, this legendary beast is not a sea snake, but a kind of deep-sea giant belt fish, which scientists call it, the longest bony fish in the ocean. Because this 18-meter-long giant belt fish has been living in deep-sea waters, difficult to catch and observe, people know very little about it, and it has been full of mystery for thousands of years.

In 2005, U. S. Marines Captain Ridgeway and Sgt. Blaise sailed across the Atlantic to build endurance. Before dawn broke on July 25, when Ridgeway, who was in charge of driving, heard a strange noise coming from the starboard side as he was fast asleep. So he turned his head and looked into the sea and saw a huge, twisted monster. A little phosphorescence on the sea set off its wheelhouse, as if hung with a string of neon lights. The monster is huge, about 15 meters long, and is swimming rapidly towards them. Ridgeway was immediately stunned by the sight. By this time, the monster had come straight ahead and hit the sailboat hard. The violent impact made the sailboat begin to wobble from side to side, which immediately awakened the sleeping Bryce. The two men hurriedly took out their weapons to fight with the monster, but the monster suddenly dived into the deep water after the impact and mysteriously disappeared. Ridgeway later recalled that the monster was silver and white, with a big head like a horse's head, but no ears and horns, white stripes on his forehead and a horse's mane under his neck. Its fins are more than 50 centimeters, thin and blunt, like a triangular plate. The appearance of the monster is really terrible. The scene reminded two frightened US Marines of the legendary "sea serpent".

On August 14, 1817, many people saw a very large sea snake appear near Gloucester Port, Massachusetts. The Linnai Society of New England organized a special committee to investigate the matter and admitted the vows of the people who saw the sea snake. According to the testimony, the sea snake "has a head the size of a four-barn barrel, a body the size of a pipa barrel, and a length of at least 40 feet."

On October 11, 1848, after the British warship Daedalas returned to Plymouth from the East Indies, the ship submitted a report. According to the report, at 5 p.m. on August 6, when the ship was about 300 miles from Africa in the South Atlantic, "alternate officer Satorius saw a very strange object and swam towards the warship from directly behind." Satorius immediately reported to his superiors. When the captain, two officers, and other personnel heard the sound, they saw a sea snake swimming in front of the ship. Witnesses estimated that the exposed part of the sea snake was sixty feet long and its neck was about fifteen or sixteen inches in diameter. It swam southwest over the Daedalas at a speed of more than ten miles an hour. Captain McQuihai said it passed "very close to the stern side."

In September 2006, a moribund halibut appeared off the coast of Australia. Perhaps because of the illness, it can no longer dive into the deep sea and can only float motionless on the surface of the water. This royal belt fish is more than 8 meters long, flattened on the side, elongated in a ribbon, and its head is like a horse's head. The body is as shiny as the much smaller belt fish, and there is a bright red dorsal fin above the whole body. After the nearby fishermen found it, they dragged it to the shore with a hook, and soon after, the royal belt fish died. As soon as the news got out, it immediately aroused great enthusiasm among scientists. At that time, marine zoologists from all over the world gathered in Australia to study the accidental royal belt fish. In this way, the royal belt fish slowly walked out of the deep sea and into people's field of vision.

On April 8, 2014, two 15.2-meter-long halibut were seen in the shallow waters of Cortis Beach in Mexico, frightening tourists nearby. A school of royal belt fish swam to the shallow waters of the Cortes Sea in Mexico. Most of them are 4.5 meters long, while the other two are 15.2 meters long. The tourists were alarmed by the arrival of these two behemoths. It is reported that the two royal belt fish are by far the longest bony fish in the world.