200-Year-Old Rockfish Caught in Alaska; Could Be Record Catch (PHOTO, VIDEO)
A 200-year-old rockfish has been caught by a fisherman in Alaska, amazing locals.
According to reports, Henry Liebman of Seattle was fishing off the coast of Alaska on June 21 when he managed to reel in a gigantic shortraker fish that was swimming approximately 900 feet below water surface level.
Liebman told The Daily Sitka Journal, "I knew it was abnormally big (but I) didn't know it was a record until on the way back we looked in the Alaska guide book that was on the boat."
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The huge orange rockfish weighed in at 40 pounds. The fish is in fact common in Alaska, and can live at depths of over 2,500 feet.
Analysts from the state Department of Fish and Game believe that the fish caught by Liebman could be over 200 years old, and if that proves to be correct then Liebman's catch would be a record.
Scientists have informed that the age of the shortraker is determined by the number of growth rings along its earbone.
The massive fish was 41-inches long, and could break the current record of a minnow that was over 200 years old but measured in at just 32-and-a-half inches.
"That fish was 32 and a half inches long, where Henry's was almost 41 inches, so his could be substantially older," Troy Tidingco, Sitka area manager for the department told the publication.
According to reports, a sample of the fish has now been sent to a lab in Juneaw, which is the state capital, and scientists there should be able to determine its age.
Meanwhile, Liebman says he plans to have the amazing fish mounted at his home in Seattle as a memento of his huge catch.
