It was eventually realized that the Glesvær fisherman had come across no other than the ribbon fish, the world's biggest bony fish - not yet discovered by scientists. The experts who took over the creature were certainly in doubt as to which animal they were dealing with. In 1766, an example of this same fish had been driven into land at Glesvær. This snake-shaped fish got the name "ribbon fish" - Regalecus glesne – with the species name referring to the place where it was discovered. The fish was first described by Ascanius in the journal Icones Rerum Naturalium, which was published in Copenhagen in 1772.
About 1840, a new ribbon fish 5 metres in size was found on Golta, and one more in 1899. The latter was three and a half metres long. In March of 1791, in addition, an example that was 12 feet (ca. 4 metres) long got stranded in Bergen and was written about in "Bergen's Addresse-newspaper" the 25th of March that year. Besides these, there are been surprisingly few sightings of this species in Norway, and none since 1899.
We do not know much about the ribbon fish. With one exception, the fish has never been seen alive - those we know about, were found dead or dying various places around the world. Often, only a part of the fish is found. It can live in deep water up to 1000 metres and is found in all warm and temperate seas. In western Norway, we are in the most northerly fringes of its range. It is the Gulf Stream that is responsible for occasional sightings of fish that normally live further south, making it up into out waters. That so many ribbon fish have been found right here at Glesvær may also be due to the rich herring fishery that used to be here.
The examples that have been found here at Glesvær haven't been especially big. The world record is an 11 metre- long ribbon fish weighing 272 kilogrammes. This is also the world record for bony fish.
