A rare Dactylobatus clarkii, a deep sea creature that lives at depths up to 1,000 feet and is also known as “hookskate” or “Clark’s fingerskate,” was caught by shark hunter Mark Quartiano off the Florida coast.
Quartiano, a charter boat operator who also goes by “Mark the Shark,” posted a photo on Instagram of the catch.
He called the creature a “monster,” as well as “giant” and “unreal.”
“I’ve caught one like it before, but never that size, not in the last 30 years I’ve been doing this,” Quartiano told ABC News. “It’s a very rare fish. It’s like a big gigantic whipping stingray. It’s a dinosaur.”
Quartiano said that the creature was around 14 feet including the tail, weighed 800 pounds, and was caught in waters around 500 feet deep.
“It was very old. It had barnacles all over it,” said Quartiano.
Quartiano released the fish back into the ocean shortly after tagging it.
“Stingrays are usually pretty good to eat, but this one as table fare? I don’t know how that would work out,” he said.
(NOAA)
The Dactylobatus clarkii is deemed “data deficient” by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, meaning not much is known about it.
The creature is known to live in the western central and southwest Atlantic. The population size is unknown and the number of these creatures caught appears to be in single digits.
“Due to the limited knowledge of its biology and extent of capture in fisheries, this species is presently assessed as Data Deficient,” the red list said. “Research into this species’ abundance, distribution, life-history and population trends is required to enable future reassessment.”
