OPEN QUESTIONS
There is so much that we (as a species) have yet to learn about oarfish (as three species). Here are our current most important open questions:
Social behavior
- How does the oarfish find mates?
- Does the oarfish have other social interactions with fellow oarfish?
Survival behavior
- Can an oarfish swimming near the shore return to its regular habitat, or is this usually the start of a death sentence?
- How does the oarfish catch enough krill to sustain itself, given that it is not especially motile?
Autotomy
- Under what circumstances does the oarfish autotomize its tail?
- Does this occur at specific points?
- If there is more than one possible point of autotomy, can the oarfish do this multiple times?
- Are the evolutionary roots of oarfish autotomy the same as those for, say, lizards?
Size
- What is the true longest recorded oarfish?
- What is the evolutionary benefit to the oarfish of being long?
OUR WORK
[IN PROGRESS] Check out our ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY for convenient reference of oarfish studies, information, and sightings.
Do you have the answers? Do you have information? Do you have research you would like to contribute? Reach out.