Fish hitched ride to US in Japanese tsunami boat

A fish native to Japan has been discovered living in a small boat which was carried across the Pacific to US shores by the 2011 tsumani.



The fish, identified as a striped beakfish, appears to have survived the 5,000 mile journey aboard a drifting 18-foot skiff that arrived on the Washington coastline in March.

It was discovered in a bait box by a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife official while he was collecting samples of marine organisms from the beached vessel.


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"People are pretty fascinated about seeing this fish and the fact that it came all the way over from Japan in the debris, so it has been a pretty cool event," said Keith Chandler from the Seaside Aquarium in Oregon, where the fish is now housed. The striped beakfish, which is primarily found in shallow Asian waters, appears to have survived the trip by feeding on other organisms in the boat.