TACLOBAN City - Hours after a 6.6-magnitude earthquake hit Masbate and some parts of Eastern Visayas, a giant Opah fish was caught by fishermen in an island in Oras, Eastern Samar.
The colorful giant fish, weighing more than 80 kilograms, was caught in the waters off Barangay Sta. Monica in Tubabao Island.
Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR-8) Regional Director Juan Albalajedo said the fish could have been affected by the earthquake shock waves, and swam to the shallow portion of the water.
The Opah fish, also called Lampris guttatus, is the first known warm bloodied fish. Its warm blood allows it to swim and see better making it a high-performance predator.
It is a pelagic wandering species that can be found in the zero- to 500-meter depth of the sea. It is known to school with tunas and billfishes, and can reach up to 200cm in length.
"It is considered a good fish marketed as fresh and frozen or prepared as sashimi, and is under a very high price category," he shared.
The fish was eventually sold at P200 per kilogram in their local market.