Awesome find in the Derwent estuary.
Kevin Blackwell recently discovered this oarfish washed ashore under the Tasman Bridge. It weighed 20 kilos and measured 2.2 metres in length. Kevin donated it to CSIRO in Hobart. Below are the details from John Pogonoski to Kevin.
Hi Kevin
We thawed the oarfish yesterday, took photos and confirmed the identification (scientific name Regalecus glesne).
The below link has a map of the records from Australian waters (where a specimen exists in a fish collection – 37 records + this one). It was only the 4th specimen in the CSIRO collection, so it will be retained in the collection. There are some differences in fin ray counts between your specimen and what I have found documented in fish books, but can’t take the identification any further until more information is published or until we get genetic results (which will take a few months).
http://ozcam.ala.org.au/
The links below also have more information
http://www.fishbase.org/
http://australianmuseum.net.
Anyway, we really appreciate you donating the specimen to the CSIRO collection.
Cheers
John Pogonoski
Fish Taxonomy
CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research