Two rare deep-sea oarfish caught in fixed nets off Toya port on the southwest side of Okinawa stunned the local fishing community last month for simply being alive.

The oarfish, netted about 2.5 km away from the coast on Jan. 28, were about 4 meters and 3.6 meters long, according to the village of Yomitan's fisheries cooperative association.

Local fishermen later ate part of one of them.