Monstrous Wolf-fish raises fears about Fukushima nuclear disaster

The giant fish was more than 2 metres in length Credit: Hiroshi Hirasaka

David Kearns

September 17 2015 01:31 PM

Japanese fishermen were left reeling after hauling in a colossal catch not far from the site of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.

The enormous wolf-fish was caught off the island of Hokkaido, near eastern Russia, by fisherman and adventurer Hiroshi Hirasaka, who is renowned in Japan for catching and eating strange things.

His Twitter profile states: “I live to chase interesting creatures,” and he has written a book called Exotic Fish Species: I Caught, Judged and Tried Eating.

Of his latest catch he wrote: “It was worth flying to Shiretoko [Hokkaido] twice within three months. This guy is super cool!”

However this wolf-fish we caught look so huge, they are the average size (TL110-120cm) in this area. pic.twitter.com/YpBKTxyEhf
— 平坂寛 (@hirahiroro) September 17, 2015

The sea beast was caught over a week ago, and has prompted questions about the impact that the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster had on surrounding marine life.

Giant catfish were discovered near the site of a nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in Russia last year.

Wolf-fish typically only grow up to 112cm and weigh 15kg but the one caught by Mr Hirasaka was over two metres long.

The terrifying creature has been identified as one of the largest wolf-fish ever recorded.