By Darrell Kirk
Weekly contributor
What do you think is the most abundant fish in the Salish Sea? Salmon? Rockfish? Perhaps some majestic whale species? The answer might surprise you: it’s the Pacific Ratfish, a bizarre bottom-dweller that rules our waters with an iron fin.
I encountered my first ratfish years ago in about 20 feet of water near the docks at Seattle’s Shilshole Bay Marina. I had never seen, or heard, of one before, but there was no mistaking that it looks like an underwater rat. My first close encounter with the Pacific Ratfish was not long after at the Golden Gardens boat launch where I happened upon a couple of children fascinated with a dead ratfish they found onshore. Its alien appearance was mesmerizing — a body that looked like several different types of fish skins all sewn together, creating a patchwork creature from another planet. Despite being no fan of rats, I found myself completely captivated by this underwater oddity complete with stubby little rat feet and a long tail.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Wayne Palsson perfectly captures their dominance in a Seattle Times article: “Pound-for-pound, the green-eyed bottom feeders dominate the Sound’s ecosystem like Doug fir dominates the forests. Heap all the fish from the main basin on a scale, and nearly 70 percent of the flopping mass would be what fisheries veterans call ‘rats.’” The story in the Aug. 14, 2010, edition of the Seattle Times by reporter Sandi Doughton, “The Rise of the Pacific Ratfish” continued to elaborate on the sheer numbers of the ratfish, “The numbers are staggering—Ratfish keep such a low profile few people have heard of them—and fewer still have ever seen one. But with an estimated 200 million at home in the Puget Sound, that’s more than 30 rats for every woman, man, and child in the state.”
In an interview with The Encyclopedia of Puget Sound, fish expert Theodore W. Pietsch explained the ratfish’s peculiar appeal: “I always think of the ratfish as being a really strange animal. I mean, it’s got nostrils like a rabbit. It’s got buck teeth. It’s got giant eyeballs. There’s a spine on the top of its back that is toxic that causes a lot of problems if you get stung by it. So that’s a really weird thing. But they are one of the most common fish. They take up more of the biomass than almost any bony fish in the Salish Sea.”
These ancient creatures — relatives of sharks — have found their niche in our inland waters. Historically, ratfish were harvested for their special liver oil, prized for use in fine watches and precision instruments. In Scandinavia, ratfish oil is still valued for its health benefits. According to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, the ratfish belong to the taxonomic class, literally “cartilaginous fishes” along with sharks and rays, but split from the ancestral shark line about 420 million years ago.
The Pacific Ratfish may not grace restaurant menus or inspire wildlife documentaries, but they are the true monarchs of the Salish Sea and several volumes could be written on this amazing fish that dwells throughout the Salish Sea and San Juan Islands.
