This is the rarely seen Oilfish, Ruvettus pretiosis. Oilfish are deep water fish found anywhere from 300 ft deep on down to well over 2000 ft deep. Oilfish are members of the snake mackerel family and feed on fish, squid and crustaceans. Oilfish are rarely caught by sportfisherman due to the depth at which they live but commercial longliners are quite familiar with them.
Oilfish are considered by many people and many government bodies to be poisonous. Not that they might kill you but oilfish have been known to give people the runs. So even though the flesh of oilfish is quite good to the taste buds, you might want to first sample it with a small portion the first time you try it.
Dennis LaFleur was fishing at one of Louisiana's numerous offshore oilrigs (VK 989). He was using a live hardtail for bait and fishing it approximately 500 ft deep when the monster oilfish struck. This oilfish weighed in at about 60 pounds and was 4 and 1/2 feet long. The International Game Fish Association lists the all-tackle record for oilfish as 139 pounds, 15 ounces, taken in April 1986 by Tim Wallace in New Zealand.
Here are some more pictures. This one was also caught off the Louisiana Coast.
