A wild Gyarados has been spotted off the northern Chilean coast near the resort of Iquique, and BOY, is he a whopper.
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Okay, so it may not have been the mythical Pokémon creature (though the resemblance is there, you can't deny it), but the strange beast did still have local fishermen pretty stumped.
At first, they thought they'd caught themselves some mysterious five-metre-long sea serpent - but it later turned out to actually be a female giant oarfish (Regalecus glesne), which weighed a whopping kg (330 lbs).
The magnificent beast was filmed after being yanked out of the Pacific Ocean off Chile, sprawling out across the boat's deck to reveal its sheer size. It's kind of mesmerising to watch.
One man can be heard saying: "Holy shit, man! I am filming it."
The excited fishermen then also discuss what the hell to do with the gigantic sea creature - other than just wanting to snap it up in a Poké Ball, obviously.
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Rodrigo Olivo, the coordinator of the Caleta Cavancha fishery, explained that they gave the unusal fish to Miguel Araya of the Arturo Prat University in Iquique.
Araya told local media: "It was a female great oarfish, also known as the king of herrings. Its stomach was found with krill remains.
"They usually live in deep waters, but are known to come into shallow waters when they are ill or about to die."
The species in question is known as the world's longest bony fish, with the biggest oarfish on record boasting a length of 11m (36ft). The heaviest, meanwhile, weighed 270 kg (595lb).
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The fish have distinctive red fins, and their undulating swimming method has apparently led to speculation that the oar fish could well be the real source of countless 'sea serpent' sightings in the past.
We recently reported the story of a British pensioner who managed to hook a giant 130lb bass while on a fishing trip in Perth, though not before a 40-minute tussle with the beast.
Sue Elcock, 68, was visiting her 49-year-old son Simon, who lives in Western Australia with his wife Michelle. She decided to join Simon on a charter boat for a 5am fishing trip off the coast of Lancelin, not expecting to catch more than a tiddler - but she soon surpassed herself with what she originally thought was a 'fair-sized fish'.
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Of course, it turned out to be anything but, and 40 minutes later, Sue, Simon and others on the boat eventually lumbered a giant bass grouper onto the boat.
The giant fish was apparently the size of a sofa, and at 5ft 4in long was even two inches longer than petite Sue.
It may not be anything on the wild Gyarados that the fishermen reeled in, but it's still not bad, is it?
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Featured Image Credit: CEN
Topics: World News, Interesting, Community, Weird, Animals