this fish hit a spoon trolling for salmon near redondo saturday afternoon. anyone know what it is?

That is what they call a rat fish. I don't know the scientific name. They are like dog fish. They will eat anything.

thanks Easy

Nice rack on that Rat

I caught one of those nasty things about 20 years ago over near Traceyton. That ugly sucker was about 3' long. Kind of reminded me of my first mother in law.

I too have heard it called a rat fish. I have caughten two. It has a knarly spike thing coming off its tail and I heard they can sting and are poisonous. I would be carefull touching them /

I too have heard it called a rat fish. I have caughten two. It has a knarly spike thing coming off its tail and I heard they can sting and are poisonous. I would be carefull touching them /

i believe ratfish is the official name. i think it's because they have some nasty looking rodent teeth that they use to eat crabs and other shelled critters with. they are wierd because they swim with their pectoral fins, not their tail.

watch out for the big spike on their head!

i didn't notice a tail spike, but i wasnt looking for one either. i wouldn't have thought it was dangerous, maybe something to think about next time. it was very well behaved. he held still for a few quick pictures, then quickly swam away.

Family Chimeridae
Hydrolagus colliei aka "Spotted Ratfish"

Cute little buggers. I see them all the time while scuba diving. Very graceful under water. Their big eyes light up green when you put the flashlight on them. Probably one of my most favorite of the Puget Sound fishes to see while scuba diving. They rank right up there with the wolfeels and octopi.

Supposedly greatest biomass per species in Puget Sound.

No, no. I beg to differ.

The greatest single animal species biomass is the geoduck, which cover the soft bottom of puget sound at a density of up to a clam per square foot.

Within the waters of the Puget Sound there are an estimated 500 million pounds of geoducks or on the order of 300 million clams- the largest biomass of any marine animal in the region.

However, the ratfish is supposedly the most abundant fish.

First one I caught when I was a kid I tried to get my hooks back and it bit down and dented my pliers. After that I don't mess with them. They appear to have two plates instead of teeth for crushing things.

Them Ratfishies be big bad and mean just like the coons of Bellevue.

Better get out the harpoon