© Tim WildingTim Wilding found the unusual-looking oarfish washed up on a beach south of Kaikoura.
Growing up to eight metres long, the oarfish is known to float vertically in the water at depths of up to 300m, and usually only in tropical locations.
One was found in Dunedin last year, but sightings of them in New Zealand were few and far between.
Identifiable by their long flat bodies and red dorsal fin, the oarfish was an edible game fish, but their meat was jelly-like and not regarded as very good eating.
Tim Wilding found the 3m oddity on a beach on Conway Flats, south of Kaikoura, on May 20.
"It's a pretty weird looking fish, but also quite beautiful," he said.
© Tim WildingTim Wilding found an oarfish - missing a tail - south of Kaikoura.
"I'm not sure if they want it, but it's here if they want to come grab it to do experiments on or what have you," he said.
"It looks like something has gone and bitten its tail off though."
Oarfish were one of the few sea creatures able to willfully shorten their own bodies, similar to the way a lizard lost its tail.
Wilding believed the creature's tail was bitten though, not self-amputated by the oarfish.
Niwa fisheries scientist Malcolm Francis confirmed Wilding's had found an oarfish.
"They're quite a distinctive fish with those red spines on its face and the red dorsal fin," he said.
Francis said there were several reports of oarfish being caught on trawlers, but those were not very common.
"We've seen reports from all over New Zealand from the Kermadecs to the Campbell Islands, but not very many," he said.
"They're very rare, you only really see them when they wash ashore."
Francis blamed the stormy weather New Zealand had been battered with recently for the creature's demise.
"They float vertically at shallow depths over deep water, so they can get caught in currents and waves of storms," he said.
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